Bonds of Silver
by Jackdaw-FanFiction
Summary: In the Country of Joya, The Silver Hippogriff Guild stumble upon a conspiracy involving the Merchant Families that rule the country, but while they investigate, things get more complicated as rumors begin to surface of a group seeking to revive the Gods that once ruled the land, for what reasons, they do not know...(SYOC, details inside, R&R if you enjoy!)
1. Prologue

Fairy Tail: Bonds of Silver

A.N: So, this is something I've been wanting to do for a long time, and I thought now would be a good time to do it, since I'm feeling a bit burned out from working on nothing but Ad Astra (Which is, in all honesty, my fault)

Anyway, the plot of this story is similar to Ad Astra in that it takes place in a different setting than the Canon story, since I think it's such a shame that Hiro Mashima decided to not explore any of the other countries in Fairy Tail –even though he bothered to name them all, but I digress– with that out of the way, let's get started!

(Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima, I only own the plot of this story and my own Ocs)

(PPS: This'll be my last SYOC story for a while, since I don't want that to become my 'thing', if that makes sense)

Joya, a Plutocratic country nestled in the middle of Ishgar, isolated from other countries due to large mountains surrounding it on all sides, collectively known as El Gran Anillo, with trade being carried in and out via airships, in the middle of the country is city of Turquesa, the humble home of the Mage's Guild, Silver Hippogriff; lead by Emilia Von Schutz.

One of the Mages of this guild, a young white-haired man named Seth Eisenhaupt was returning from a standard job, protecting a Trade Caravan as it made it's deliveries to the various cities around Joya, he sat inside one of the Magic Four Wheelers that slowly made it's way through the verdant countryside.

The inside of the vehicle was silent for a while, with Seth content to just sit and watch the country roll by "Heh, looks like I didn't even need to be here, it's been pretty peaceful since we left Turmalina" he then directed his gaze at the head of the caravan, sitting across from him "But, uh...I'm still gonna get paid, right?"

The merchant, a bald, rotund man with a large black mustache, let out a boisterous laugh "Don't worry, lad, you'll still get your payment, you have my word on that!" he continued to laugh for a while, when suddenly, his face turned serious "...Let me ask you something, lad, do you believe in Gods?"

"Gods?...I never really thought about it..." Seth answered, rolling up one of the sleeves on his gray jacket, he focused his magic into his arm as it slowly turned into metal "I mean...people call my magic 'God Slaying magic' but I always figured it was just a name..."

"Well, I suppose it really doesn't matter" The merchant replied, leaning forward and folding his hands in front of his face "Just a word of caution, if you'll hear an old man out, there are those that will go to great lengths to defend their beliefs, be careful of those types of people, alright?"

"Y-Yeah, Alright..." Seth responded, a little unnerved by what the merchant was saying, before the conversation could continue, the car suddenly stopped "What's going on?" there was a knock on the back of the car and the door was thrown open and a mage wielding a gun entered, threatening the two in the back.

"Alright boys, follow me, nice and easy..." he said, keeping the gun level "And don't try anything stupid, and there won't be any problem" The merchant complied and held his arms up, moving past the gunman and exiting the vehicle, but Seth remained seated "Hey! Didn't you hear me?"

Seth turned to face the gunman and a tense moment of silence passed as everyone stayed silent, Seth finally broke the tension by standing up and raising his arms as well "Sorry! I wasn't paying attention!" he then approached the gunman, who grabbed him by the collar and pulled him close.

"You think you're funny!?" He asked, getting in Seth's face and pushing the barrel of his gun into his chin "Remember who's got the gun!" at this, a smirk slowly appeared on Seth's face, which angered the gunner, who pressed the barrel harder against his hostages head "Wipe that smile off you're face!"

Outside the car, other thugs were pulling the rest of the caravan members into a line, keeping weapons trained on the victims, before anyone could make a move, they heard a gunshot ring out from one of the cars, they all turned around and approached the car, focusing their weapons on the car.

"What's going on?!" another thug yelled, his voice booming in a commanding tone "I thought we said no kills!" he slowly walked towards the car and reached out to the door, before he could open it though, it was blasted open by a huge black wave, the rest of the thugs dove out of the way.

Once the wave had dissipated, they looked at where it had hit and saw that their comrade was laying unconscious on the side of one of the cars, seeing this, they turned their attention back to other car and opened fire, thinking they had neutralized whatever threat was in the car.

"Someone go check it out!" The leader yelled, causing the other thugs to start arguing over who should go check it out, as they fought, the slowly opened again, startling the thugs "Who's there?!" his question was answered when Seth stepped out, his skin now steel gray, as opposed to his normal pale white "Get out here now!"

"If you say so..." Seth replied, quickly dashing towards the thugs and punching one of them hard in the stomach, sending him flying into a tree and knocking him unconscious, he quickly dodged as the other thugs opened fire on him once again.

"Take that punk down!" The leader shouted, shooting his shotgun at Seth, who simply took the blow and kept rampaging, throwing around the field as the caravan members ran for cover in the forest, watching the young mage fought against the thugs "Alright, I've had enough!"

A beige colored magic circle appeared at the tip of the leader's shotgun as he aimed it towards Seth " _ **Adhesive Shot!**_ " he then fired a blast from the gun that resembled a glob of mucus, seeing the shot coming, Seth raised his arms in defense, causing them to get bound together by the attack "Heheh, guess you bit off more than you can chew..."

"Damn! What is this stuff?!" Seth complained, trying to free his arms from the glue, though the more he struggled, the more it seemed to stick "Come on! Stupid glue!" as he fought against the glue, the leader of the thugs slowly walked up to him, chuckling as he flipped his gun in his hand, now gripping the barrel.

He viciously smashed the gun against Seth's head, knocking the young man to the ground "Uppity little brat! This coulda gone so much easier!" He continued to beat Seth, who was left unable to defend himself, the beating finally stopped as the leader dropped the gun and panted over Seth's seemingly unconscious body, he then turned to his goons and held his arms out to his sides "Alright boys!, Let's get to looting!"

As the thugs cheered and congratulated their boss, the caravan members looked on in shock and horror as their tormentors began to ransack their wares, one of the merchants looked at Seth's prone body and saw that he was stirring "Look!" he whispered to his companions, they watched as Seth slowly rose to his feet as the adhesive around his hands crumbled away.

One of the thugs noticed and fell backwards in surprise "W-What the hell are you, you should be dead by now!" Seth didn't answer and simply cracked his neck as iron covered his arms once more, turning them into studded maces.

" _ **Mace of the Iron God!**_ " Seth yelled, swinging both his arms downward, crushing the thug into the ground and knocking him out, he then turned his attention to the other bandits, charging towards him after hearing the commotion, Seth began fighting them, knocking them away with his mace-arms and binding them in place with quickly assembled iron bands, leaving only him and the leader once again "Ready for round 2?"

"Alright then, let's finish this..." The leader growled, his anger clearly boiling over as his shotgun was replaced by a giant cannon-type gun "Think you can handle this, punk?" Seth laughed as he picked up one of the unconscious goon's guns and took a bite from the barrel.

"Ah...I needed that, haven't had anything to eat since I left the guild!" Seth laughed, patting his stomach "Okay, now I'm ready!" he then began stretching out, making the leader even angrier.

"Quit screwing around!" He shouted, firing off a giant cannon ball, blowing a huge hole into the ground as it exploded, but Seth was nowhere to be found when the dust settled, before the leader could look around, he felt something push hard into his back, he whipped his head around and saw that Seth had somehow appeared behind him and drop kicked him in the back with iron-clad legs, sending him stumbling forward.

He spun around and tried to fire off another shot, but before he could, Seth quickly thrust out his arm, sending the mace flying towards the leader, colliding with his face and knocking him out cold, he eventually came to and noticed that he and all of his goons were bound in iron.

Seth was standing in front of them as the Caravan members collected their wares and began preparations for the walk back to Turquesa "Who sent you guys? You part of a Dark Guild?" He questioned, a serious tone in his voice.

"Tch, don't be so simple..." The leader scoffed, trying to free himself from the binds "Mage Guilds don't run everything..." he soon stopped struggling against his bonds, as if he had resigned himself to his fate "Lotta money going around in these caravans, if one merchant family goes under cuz of bandit attacks, people are gonna start redirecting there business to other families..."

"So, you were hired by one of the other Merchant Families? Which one?" Seth interrogated, trying his best to sound threatening, though the Bandit Leader seemed undeterred, even laughing in the young man's face.

"How should I know? I talked to one of their toadies, the pay was too good to pass up, so I wasn't askin' questions" The leader replied, a wry smile on his face, which then quickly faded as he looked up at Seth "So, whaddya gonna do with us now?"

Seth was confused for a moment "What do you mean? I'm gonna turn you in" The leader looked at him, a brief glimpse of confusion on his face.

"Heh, naïve punk" Was the only thing he said as the caravan leader approached Seth, telling him that they were all prepped to leave, with Seth gesturing for the bandits to stand and follow them to Turquesa.

On the way, a Goblin approached the group and ran up to Seth, holding a small Communications Lacrima up to him, Seth grabbed it and the image of a beautiful woman with flowing black hair appeared "Oh, hey master! What's up?"

"You know I like to check in on my subordinates when they're away" Emilia explained, resting her head on the back of her hand "I assume you're making your way home?" Seth nodded as he picked up the goblin and scratching behind the creatures ears "Perfect, We all await your triumphant return" with that, Emilia disappeared from the Lacrima as it turned off.

Seth stowed the Lacrima in the pocket of his jacket as the Goblin jumped onto his shoulder, he then turned his attention back to the caravan and grabbed a bag of supplies, taking one of the heavier ones to ease their burden as they made their way back to Turquesa, leaving their wrecked vehicles behind, which the leader informed Seth may or may not be coming out of his reward...

THE END!

A.N: And with that, A new journey begins! I hope you enjoy, and sorry if this is a bit rough, prologues are a little difficult for me, anyway, If you'd like to submit a character, There are 6 guilds you can submit to, 3 Legal and 3 Dark Guilds, the Legal guilds are Silver Hippogriff, Kobold Fang, and Stone Titan, and the 3 Dark Guilds are Crimson Jackal, Wrym Talon, and Empusa Heart


	2. Chapter 1

Bonds of Silver: Chapter 1- Coming Home

(Sorry it's been a while, but I thought it would be a good idea to let characters build up, and some of you may have noticed, I moved the SYOC format to my profile, at the suggestion of MrGoodyTwoShoes, who was yet another person to inform me that SYOC stories are apparently against the rules)

Finally reaching the city of Turquesa, Seth took in the sights, beautifully crafted buildings; some made of brick, and some made of Marble, denoting which buildings separated the classes, he then looked down the street and saw one building in particular; A large two-floor building with a sign emblazoned with the guild mark of Silver Hippogriff.

It was a Hippogriff taking to the skies, wings spread majestically as it caught the wind, hooves raised in challenge to all who oppose it, beak open, piercing the air with it's cry, but this wasn't his destination, instead, he was heading towards the jailhouse to hand over the men who attacked him on the road.

As he made his way there, he decided to try and extract more information from the attackers, who he had chained behind him, leading them like dogs on a leash "So, you gonna tell me who sent you guys?"

"I already told you, it was some lackey working for one of the merchant families..." The leader answered, not looking at Seth, instead looking at the jail "Didn't get a name, didn't care to ask, and a case full of Jewels bought my silence."

When they reached the jail, Seth knocked on the door and waited for someone to show up "Last chance, got anything to say?" The leader of the bandits refused to answer, but once the sheriff opened the door and had the bandits shuffle in, the last bandit in the line spoke.

"Things are moving in the dark, watch where you step..." He said, once the sheriff had handed them off to some deputies, he stepped out of the building to talk to Seth.

"Thanks for that, young man, those men are part of the Imp Horn bandit guild" He explained, gesturing towards one of the bandit's shoulders, which had a guild mark of a profile shot of a wickedly grinning Imp "We've heard they've been causing trouble in the countryside, wait here, I'll get your reward!"

Seth simply nodded and waited as the Sheriff ducked back into the building, as he waited, the Bandit's words still lingered in his mind "Things in the dark, huh?" before he could give it anymore thought, the sheriff returned with a case of Jewels "...Thanks, I should get back to the Guild Hall, give us a heads up if there's anymore trouble, alright?"

"Will do" The sheriff simply replied, heading back into the jail, once he was away from the jail, Seth took a deep breath, trying to shake off his nervousness, he made his way to the Guild Hall, stopping in front of the door.

" _I wonder if the Master will know anything about this...?_ " He thought, opening the door, happy to see familiar faces greeting him, one of which was an orange haired young woman dressed in a white turtleneck and a gray capelet standing behind the bar, she gave him a warm smile and waved.

"Oh, Seth, I wasn't expecting to see you back so soon!" She greeted, Seth waved back and approached the bar and sat on one of the stools "It's good to see you unharmed, can I get you anything?"

"No, I'm alright, thanks for the offer, Abel" Seth replied, leaning on the bar, taking a moment to rest "Is Master Emilia in, though? I've got something I want to discuss with her" before Abel could reply, a stream of water blasted Seth in the face, catching the two of them off guard and knocking Seth off the stool.

"Think you can slip by without me seeing, Hard-Head?" The attacker called, Seth got off the floor and shook the water out of his hair, he looked to where the voice came from and saw a young man with spiky black hair standing at the top of the stairs, he was dressed in a black leather jacket with a white t-shirt underneath, dark blue pants and black shoes as well.

"Sorry, Rin, I know you've probably been bored, cooped up in here, pining over that Fairy Tail girl you saw in _Sorcerer_ , but some of us actually, you know, go on missions" Seth taunted back, flashing a cocky grin at Rin, cracking his knuckles.

Rin's face turned red and he began stumbling over his words "Y-You leave her out of this a-alright!?" he then stomped down the stairs and approached Seth, the two of them getting in each others face "And you know I've completed just as many missions as you have!"

"Yeah!? Then how come whenever I come back here, you're sitting there just looking at those magazines!?" Seth retorted, not backing down from Rin, while the two of them argued, a girl with long black hair ran up to them, she wore a red dress with a white bow around her neck, black stockings, and brown shoes.

She stumbled a bit as she attempted to wedge herself between the two "Not again! You guys don't have to fight every time you see each other!" the two boys didn't seem to listen to her as they continued barking at each other, but their arguing slowly petered out as their eyes began to sag.

Abel let out an annoyed sigh " **Feel-Make: Drowsy** " She walked around the bar and exited from behind it, approaching the two boys, who were now sliding to the ground "Why do you two always butt heads? We're all allies here"

"He's...problem...not me..." Seth muttered, fighting the urge to fall asleep, and throwing a weak punch at Rin, which harmlessly tapped him on the cheek, which Rin tried to reciprocate, but he couldn't muster up any strength.

Kagome helped Rin to his feet and Abel did the same for Seth "I'm gonna take Seth to see Master Emilia, do you think you can keep your brother from causing any more trouble?" Kagome nodded and sat Rin down on a stool as he mumbled out some more taunts.

Abel took Seth upstairs as her spell started to wear off, once he was back to normal, Seth stood up straight and shook the residual sleep off of him "Have you cooled off, now?" Seth nodded as he and Abel continued down the hall "What's with you two? Why can't you interact with hitting or insulting each other?" 

Seth sheepishly rubbed the back of his head before replying "Well...it's not like we _hate_ each other..." as they talked, a door further down the hall opened and a pink-haired girl walked out of the room, walking down the hall towards the two "Oh, hey, Dawn, You talking to Master Emilia?

"Yes, I was just reporting the results of my latest mission to Mot- I mean, to the Master..." Dawn replied, earning a little snicker from Seth, the two of them grew up together in the guild, with Dawn being raised as Emilia's daughter, Dawn was a strong willed person, but she found it hard to express herself to other members of the guild "And just _what_ is so funny?" she questioned, putting her hands on her hips.

"Oh, uh, nothing, it's just kinda funny how your personality completely changes around us..." He explained, giving a nervous smile as Dawn's red eyes burned into him "I-I didn't mean to offend you, or anything..."

"It's fine..." Dawn replied, moving past Seth and Abel "Oh, and I'll be leaving for a mission in a few minutes, if you would like to accompany me, I'll be downstairs" she disappeared down the stairs and Seth walked to the door she had exited from.

"I should get back to the bar, I'll see you later" Abel said, turning around and heading back downstairs, Seth knocked on the door and waited for a reply.

"Seth? Come in" Emilia's voice called from within the room, Seth opened the door and saw Emilia standing by a window, wistfully gazing out of it, he waited silently until she acknowledged him "Forgive me, I was lost in thought for a moment, did you have something to discuss?"

Seth approached her as she walked to a desk next to the window, sitting behind the desk and straightening her flowing black dress "Well, yeah, something weird happened when I was helping those merchants, these guys from the Imp Horn guild attacked, when I fought them off, the leader said he was hired by one of the Merchant Families..."

"Hmm...this is troubling, if the Families are fighting, it could lead to chaos all throughout Joya" Emilia replied, crossing her arms in front of her and pausing to think "I'll look into this matter, perhaps the other Guild Masters have had similar run-ins, it wouldn't do anyone any good to jump to conclusions and throw accusations around" she opened a cabinet on her desk and pulled a Communications Lacrima out of it "I will inform you if anything comes up, but try not to bring this incident up in town, it might cause a panic."

Seth nodded and exited the room as Emilia activated the Lacrima "What now?" Seth asked himself, shoving his hands in his pockets, heading down the hallway, an idea suddenly struck him, a smile crossed his face as he ran down the hall, sliding down the banister and landing on his feet, he looked around the ground floor and saw Dawn, still making preparations for her missions "Hey! Dawn, wait up!"

He ran over to Dawn, startling her and nearly bowling her over as he stopped in front of her "I assume you want to come along?" she asked as Seth caught his breath, nodding affirmation "Alright, I was prepared to head off on my own" Seth helped her with her supplies as both Rin and Kagome approached.

"Hey, if you're taking Hard-Head along, I'm coming too" Rin volunteered, pointing his thumb at himself, he grabbed one of the other bags and slung it over his shoulder "I'm not letting him have all the fun this time."

"Do you think I could come along, too?" Kagome asked, looking at the others with pleading eyes "I won't get in the way, I swear!" Rin, Seth, and Dawn silently debated with each other, until Seth finally broke the silence.

"Sure, why not, you can handle yourself, and I'm sure this mission won't be that bad" He said, giving her a thumbs up, much to Rin's chagrin, shooting Seth a harsh glare "What?"

"I'm not risking my sister's life" Rin calmly answered, sternly crossing his arms "She could get hurt" he turned to Kagome and placed a hand on her shoulder "You understand, right" he and Kagome locked eyes, and Rin could see he was fighting a losing battle "Sigh...fine, you can come, but if things get bad, I want you to get out of there, okay?"

Kagome smiled brightly and hugged her brother "Okay!, I'll go get my things!" she ran up the stairs, stumbling slightly as she went, Rin turned back to Seth and Dawn, the former of which was barely containing his laughter.

"She knows how to play you like a fiddle, huh, Wet-head?" Seth laughed, doubling over with laughter, embarrassing Rin, but before the two could start arguing, Dawn interrupted the two of them.

"If you two are quite done, We'll be meeting Ariadne at our destination, so we'd best not keep them waiting" She instructed them, once Kagome had returned, the four of them left the guild hall, making sure they had everything they needed for the mission...

THE END!

A.N: Again, Sorry I haven't updated, but it's back now, and I'll be updating this story every Friday from now on, enjoy!

Also, I'd like to make a request, I think there are enough characters in Silver Hippogriff, and I need some characters for other guilds, especially villains.

Kagome and Rin Sombra belong to Raven Claw (I prefer Hufflepuff...), Dawn Von Schutz belongs to Artesys, Abel Dise belongs to Mayurie, and (even though she wasn't properly introduced) Ariadne Durrell belongs to Elegant Soul


	3. Chapter 2

Fairy Tail: Bonds of Silver- Chapter 2: Evanescent Melody

(I'd like to take a moment to talk about some Guest reviews, as I still haven't found an effective way to reply to them...anyway! One was a guest that sounded like they were accusing me of also being ShadowXxxX, I'd like to say that I am not, if this wasn't their intention, I apologize for the accusation, and secondly, I'd like to answer a question from PunLover, who asked if they could submit more than 1 OC, and yes, you can submit more than one, just don't go too crazy with it, with that out of the way, let's get going!)

After making their final preparations, Seth's group left the Guild Hall and headed towards the train station, after purchasing their tickets, they headed to the platform and waited for the train, while they did, Rin decided it would be a good idea to try and gain some more information from Dawn.

"So, what's this job about?" He asked, turning towards Dawn "It's nothing too life threatening, is it?" though he didn't say it, the others could tell he was still uncomfortable bringing Kagome along on this mission.

"We're to investigate the disappearance of villagers in the town of Espinela" Dawn replied, pulling a map out of her backpack and pointed at a small town a few miles away from Turquesa "Ariadne went ahead to do some scouting and question the locals."

"People have been disappearing?" Seth repeated, crossing his arms in front of him "Espinela isn't a rich town, it isn't like the people can be ransomed off..." A dark thought than crossed his mind "...Think some jerks from Bosco slipped in?"

"Jerks? What do you mean by that?" Kagome asked, though she soon realized what Seth was implying "Slave Traders? Do you think they'd resort to kidnapping?" before Seth could reply, a loud horn nearly deafened them as the train rolled in.

As they shuffled on to the train, Dawn spoke up "It is a possibility, but what they plan on doing with these villagers is yet to be seen, we are to discover their intentions and drive them off if we can" with this information weighing on their minds, they quickly found their seats as the train began to slowly move forward "We should decide on a strategy before we arrive."

"Agreed, this doesn't seem like something we can solve by rushing in blindly" Rin responded, looking at Seth "If you're right about these guys being from Bosco, those captives lives are forfeit if we're discovered."

Kagome was silent for a moment, wrestling with her own thoughts before finally voicing them "What if...what if we lured them out with bait?" this suggestion seemed to catch the others off-guard for a second "It makes sense, right? If they're looking for people, why not give them some?"

"I guess that does make sense...but who should be the bait?" Seth asked, putting his hands behind his head "It might be a good idea to send me or Rin, seeing as the bait would be in a lot of danger, the ones with the strongest magic might be the best to send."

"That could work, but there are some risks to that as well" Dawn interjected, shaking her head "If they detect a strong source of magic power, it might scare them off, perhaps we could convince one of the locals to play the bait?"

"But if they've lost so many of their own people already, would they even be willing to help us?" Kagome questioned, a worried look on her face "Besides, we can't ask them to do this, it feels wrong..."

"I guess you're right..." Rin answered, folding his arms and slumping in his seat "Maybe Ariadne will have a better plan? She's been there for a while, so she's probably got more information than us" he turned his attention to the window, staring at the scrolling scenery.

The rest of the group fell silent, but Kagome finally spoke up "...I'll do it, I'll be the bait..." she looked around at the shocked faces of her guildmates, something that would have made her laugh in a more lighthearted situation.

"WHAT?!" The other three yelled, startling the other passengers in the train car, the group ignored the awkward stares, whether it was intentional or not, Rin was the first to speak afterwards, waving his hands in front of him.

"No! No! Absolutely not, I forbid it!" He shouted, giving his sister a stern look "I'm not gonna let you put yourself in harms way, if anyone is gonna be the bait, it's gonna be me!"

"But I'm better at crowd control with my Shadow Magic" Kagome countered, as shadows started rising around her feet "I should be able to hold off attackers until you guys can jump in to help" Despite her reasoning, Rin seemed unwilling to budge.

Much like Rin, Dawn seemed against the idea as well "We don't even know if they are being kidnapped, we should consider other possibilities, perhaps it was a monster we can hunt down? We wouldn't need bait in that case."

"Well, honestly, I don't think it's a bad idea" Seth chimed in, putting a hand on Kagome's shoulder, he then used his other hand to gesture towards the other two "Look at it this way, if she's bait, we're going to be watching over her, two God Slayers should be able to handle anything."

"Tch...Our magic isn't what I'm concerned about" Rin responded, leaning towards Seth, looking him in the eye "We won't be able to focus on all of the enemies, she could be taken or attacked when we aren't looking!"

"Well...if we ambush them, we may be able to subdue them without having to fight" Dawn conceded "And if with Ariadne and her spirits along, we might be able to outnumber them as well" She then turned her attention to Rin, who still seemed on the fence "We'll be near her the entire time."

Rin gritted his teeth, but finally let out a frustrated sigh and conceded "Fine! She can do it, but if I get the feeling something's wrong, I'm going to jump in..." they decided to change the topic in order to raise everyone's spirits as the train continued down the tracks...

Meanwhile, in a forest located near Espinela, two hooded figures watched as groups of people were being lead into carriages by armed slavers, next to one of the figures was a gray dog, piercing crimson eyes leering at the prisoners.

The figure next to the dog reached out and scratched it's head "Forgive me, Yomi, you haven't had much chance to play, but don't worry, you'll get the chance soon enough..." As he talked to the dog, the other figure turned to him.

"Ichiro...don't you think we've captured enough people?" They asked, removing their hood and revealing that it was a woman, with long black hair, she had olive skin with a smattering of freckles "Our leader should be satisfied with what we've gathered..."

Ichiro turned to his companion, and when he spoke, the icy tone in his voice seemed to scare her more than if he had shouted "Nerissa...is your resolve waning?" Yomi turned to face Nerissa as well, a low growl escaping from its mouth, causing Nerissa to back up slightly.

"N-No...I just feel as if we're going too far" Nerissa replied, trying to calm herself down "It won't happen again, I promise" while the two of them talked, one of the slavers approached them, a worried expression on his face.

"We might have a problem, boss" He said, catching his breath "Some of the boys went back to the town to look for more marks, when they were there, they said that there was someone was asking about the disappearances, think we should take her out?"

Ichiro was silent for a moment "This is...troubling, but if all they're doing is asking, we might not need to intervene quite yet, just keep an eye on them and make sure they remain unaware of our operations" the slaver saluted and left Ichiro and Nerissa.

"Heheh...Looks like you'll get a chance to play after all, Yomi..." Ichiro murmured, petting the dog once more, a dark aura emanating from the two of them that set Nerissa on edge, but it was gone as soon as it appeared as Ichiro turned back to her "Pardon me, Nerissa, but I must look into this matter."

Ichiro bid her goodbye and left her to oversee the operations, a feeling of unease settling in the pit of her stomach as she watched more and more of the people being loaded into the carriages...

Back with Seth's group, the train had finally pulled into Espinela, the passengers began to pile out with the heroes being shoved out from the people behind them, seemingly in a hurry, once things had settled, they began looking for Ariadne, who was meant to be meeting them at the station.

"Hmm, this is odd, she was meant to be here..." Dawn said, trying to locate her companion in the growing throng of people "I don't see her anywhere."

"Maybe she's waiting in town? Why don't we check like a tavern or something?" Seth suggested, pointing off towards the town, the others agreed and they pushed through the crowd and finally made it into the town, it was a quaint little hamlet, with people running about, going to market and doing general errands.

They soon found the tavern, it was a small building with a sign hanging above the door that read ' _Gema De Los Campos_ ', they entered the building and were immediately cornered by an overzealous tavern maid "Hello! Welcome to our sleepy, little town! Can I get you anything?" She asked, a warm smile on her face.

"That won't be nece-" Dawn started, but before she could finish, she found herself being shoved forward by the woman "No, wait, I'm serious, we don't need anything! We're just here to meet someone, guys, back me up!" she called to her friends, but they simply followed, not trying to stop the woman.

The woman stopped them once they were away from the other patrons and a serious look replaced the smile that had been there before "You're from Silver Hippogriff, right?" in response, they showed her their guild marks, Seth's was on his left palm and steel gray, Rin and Kagome's were both purple and on their left and right shoulder blades, respectively, and Dawn's was white and over her heart, she pulled down the neckline of her shirt just enough that it was visible.

"We're here to help!" Kagome chirped, wanting to put the woman's mind at ease "We're looking for another member of our guild, has she been through here?" the woman solemnly nodded, a sad look in her eyes.

"Yes, she's waiting in the back, I'll take you to her now" She answered, gesturing for them to follow her, she lead them through the bar, weaving through other workers carrying trays, though Seth was quick to grab a fork off of one of the trays and place it in his mouth, the woman soon stopped and pulled back a curtain, revealing what seemed to be a VIP area "She should be in here...you _are_ going to help, right?"

"Of course" Seth simply replied, chewing through the tines on the fork, surprising the woman, she said her goodbyes and the team ducked into the backroom, they moved past several tables, soon they saw a black-haired young woman dressed in a maroon shirt and black pants sitting alone at a table in the back, she was soon joined by a young man with feathery white hair and a brown leather jacket, his most prominent feature were the two eagle wings on his back "Oh, hey, Ariadne!" Seth greeted as they approached her.

"Oh, hello, I didn't realize the train had arrived, my apologies" She apologized, standing from the table and approaching her friends, hugging Dawn and Kagome when they were close enough "I must have gotten too caught up with information gathering that I lost track of time" before anyone could reply, the winged man approached Dawn, silently staring at her.

"C-Can I help you?" She asked, feeling awkward and embarrassed, suddenly the man dropped to one knee and took her hand, kissing it lightly.

"Forgive my rudeness, I was captivated by your looks..." He said, placing his free hand to his chest as a smile crossed his face "I am Aquila, a Celestial Spirit in service to my lady Ariadne, 'tis a shame though, as I am bound to her, I'd much rather be with you~"

Ariadne grabbed Aquila by the collar and yanked him back, though her smile remained through the whole interaction "I'm sorry, Dawn, he still hasn't learned his lesson" she then leaned closer and whispered to her "He said the same exact thing to several barmaids, don't take him seriously."

"O-Of Course...what information have you gathered?" Dawn asked, trying to regain her composure, though the snickering behind her made it slightly harder, Ariadne gestured back towards the table and the group followed her to it, once they were all seated, she gave them her report.

"From what I could gather, the people tend to disappear at night, and those that don't disappear report hearing a haunting melody coming from deep within the forest" She said, she then pointed towards Aquila "I've had Aquila scout the forest from the skies, but so far nothing seems out of the ordinary."

The Spirit's face suddenly fell, and his voice was dire "Yes...I regret to say I failed my mission" His face suddenly lit up again "Though I won't let this slow me down! I'll head back out immediately and do another sweep of the area!" he stood from the table and ran out of the VIP area, with several shocked screams coming from the other side of the curtain as he made his way out.

"I'm sorry, he's a little...eccentric" Ariadne chuckled, she then turned back to her companions and dropped her voice low, in case any of the other patrons could here "So, do we have a plan?"

"Well, I wouldn't really call it a plan, it's something, at least" Seth answered, placing the last bit of the fork into his mouth "We were planning on using Kagome as bait tonight, Rin won't stop complaining about it though..."

"Sorry if I don't see the brilliance in sacrificing my little sister!" Rin chided, slamming a hand on the table "I still say it should be either me or Hard-Head, and now I'm leaning more towards him doing it..."

"Actually, I believe that plan could work" Ariadne said, pointing towards Kagome "She's the most unassuming out of all of us, and the one with magic that is perfect for surprise attacks" Rin opened his mouth to argue, but conceded defeat once again and slumped back in his chair, pouting "We should go over the specifics of the plan later tonight, I have a room at an inn near here, we should head there and discuss it in private."

As they talked, another barmaid approached them and asked if they wanted anything, this time they decided to get some food and drink, once they were finished there, they left the tavern and made their way to the inn, the sun had reached it's apex as they made their way there.

They arrived at the inn and followed Ariadne to her room, once they were inside, they set about concocting their plan right away "Alright, so, we'll have Kagome positioned near the edge of town, by the entrance to the forest" Ariadne began, pointing at a map of the town she had laid out on a table.

"Rin and I will be stationed the closest, in case this goes wrong, we can shut it down quickly" Seth continued, turning his gaze to Rin "With us on guard, she won't have anything to worry about, okay?" Rin responded with only a smirk.

"You two will keep watch on the ground, while Ariadne and I will be in the air, riding around on Aquila, his true form should be able to support the two of us" Dawn finished, determination clear in her voice.

"I must admit, this is kinda scary..." Kagome voiced with a nervous smile "B-But I promise not to let any of you down!" her smile went from a nervous one, to a courageous one as she held out her hand, the other members smiled and placed their hand on hers in turn, psyching themselves up for whats to come...

That night, Kagome was standing on her own, she looked behind her and saw a flash of white hair that told her that Seth and Rin were in position, having them close bolstered her courage, she started walking down the path as they had planned, trying to seem as if she was simply going for a nightly walk.

As she walked though, she heard a faint voice " _Is that...singing?_ " she thought, remembering what Ariadne had said about those that had disappeared hearing a melody, she tried to cover her ears to block it out, but she was too slow as her hands dropped to her sides and she stopped in her tracks.

"Why'd she stop?" Seth asked, leaning out from behind his hiding spot "Hey! Kagome, you okay?" she didn't reply, which made both of the boys nervous "This is weird, what's going on?" Seth quickly looked over at Rin, who was hiding across from him.

"...I think she froze, I'm gonna grab her!" Rin said, Seth tried to tell him to stop, but Rin ran up to Kagome and tried to snap her out of her stupor "Hey! Can you hear me?" he looked into her eyes and was shocked to see they were dull and clouded over "Kagome, it's me! Rin!" he tried shaking her once again, but she still remained paralyzed, but soon, she started slowly walking towards the forest, undeterred by her brother "Come on, snap out of it!"

"Rin, wait!" Seth ordered, grabbing Rin by the arm "I know you don't want to, but leave her alone, she might lead us to them..." Rin muttered a curse under his breath as he followed Seth to another hiding place, watching his hypnotized sister plod towards the forest...

THE END!

A.N: The action is picking up! I hope you all enjoy, even though there hasn't been much action in the past two chapters...anyway! Nerissa Delmare belongs to Firealis, and Ichiro Yami belongs to Malfel!


	4. Chapter 3

Fairy Tail: Bonds of Silver- Chapter 3: Rain Vs. Shadow!

(Before I start, I've got some stuff to get out of the way, first of all, an apology to ShadowXxxX, I didn't mean to upset you when I talked about the other guests accusations, it was nothing you did, that guest was just talking about how often you commented, so again, apologies if what I said upset you in anyway)

(The other thing I wanted to talk about might be a little longer, so bear with me, Raven Claw needed an in depth description of some of the characters for a drawing, and since this is the only way I know of to reply to Guest reviews (Still haven't found a different method...) specifically, for Seth and Dawn, First off, I'll describe Seth; He has short white hair (Another guest said something like the Male version of Maka from Soul Eater, though I think it would be cooler like Nero's hairstyle from DMC 5) he usually wears a gray coat, similar to Loki's, black slacks, and black boots, he has a light complexion, just in the middle of pale and tan, his eyes are steel gray, he's also tall, standing at about 6 feet)

(And as for Dawn, She's quite short, standing at 5'3, with shoulder length pink hair and deep red eyes, she has a fair skin tone and has a lithe, flexible build, her body lacks any prominent curves, which lead people to assume she's younger than she is, she usually wears a long sleeved, dark red, coat that reaches to her knees, along with black leggings and lightweight black boots, underneath the coat, she wears a light red t-shirt)

(That's pretty much it, and if you need anymore information, Raven Claw, just let me know!)

Seth and Rin continued to follow after Kagome as they went deeper and deeper into the forest "Hey!, Kagome! Why aren't you answering?!" Rin yelled, trying not to raise his voice too high, in case they were being watched.

"Keep it together, Rin!" Seth whispered, reaching out to Rin before he blew their cover "We need her to lead us to them, I'm sorry, but this is the best way!" he looked up at the sky, seeing the silhouette of a giant eagle above them " _Alright, the girls still haven't lost track of us..._ "

Kagome kept marching forward, entranced by something the boys were unaware of "She really can't hear us, huh? Is this some sorta magic?" he let out a defeated sigh and turned back to Seth "Alright, we'll let her go..."

The two boys nodded at each other, they both turned their attention back to Kagome, she still absentmindedly walked through the woods, suddenly, she stopped in the middle of a clearing, and when they caught up to her, Seth and Rin couldn't see anything in the clearing that seemed significant.

"What's going on? Why'd she stop?" Rin asked, ducking behind a tree, he gestured for Seth to hide behind a tree across from him, when they were both hidden, they saw some bushes in front of Kagome begin to rustle.

To their surprise, a gray dog walked out from the bushes "What's with that mutt?" Seth asked out loud, watching as the dog approached Kagome and sniffed her hand, Seth glanced over at Rin, who was keeping himself composed, but seemed ready to run in "Let's just wait, it might be a random animal..."

"Right" Rin simply answered, as the dog continued to sniff at Kagome, and much to their shock, the dog dropped down low and started growling "This isn't good...I'm going in!" Rin dashed out from behind the tree and sprinted toward Kagome as the dog lunged towards her, fangs bared " _No...I'm not gonna make it!_ " he cried in his mind, creating a water ball in his hand...

"Rin, Get down!" He heard Dawn yell, as Aquila swooped down from the sky, tackling the dog and knocking it away from Kagome, Rin stared in silent awe as Dawn and Ariadne landed in front of him, as the dog rolled to a halt, it recovered and shook off the blow, it then reared back it's head and let out an ear-splitting howl...

Meanwhile, deeper in the forest, Ichiro and Nerissa looked towards where they heard the howl come from, hearing the howl, Ichiro let out a quiet, intimidating chuckle "Looks like Yomi has found some playthings...I shall go join him, watch over these fool, Nerissa."

Nerissa looked at Ichiro, seemingly wanting to say something, but she bit her tongue and simply nodded as Ichiro walked away from her, leaving Nerissa to her thoughts as she approached the edge of the overlook, watching as the slavers loaded more victims into the carriages.

Back with the others, it seemed as though Kagome had been released from the spell, coming to her senses with a gasp "Huh? Where am I?" She looked around and saw the dog, staring at them menacingly "What's going on?!"

"It seems like this dog may be associated with the kidnappers in some way..." Ariadne replied as Aquila flew to her side and turned back into his humanoid form "If so, we should prepare ourselves for reinforcements..."

"Let 'em come! I've been wanting to let loose since we got here!" Seth boasted, cracking his knuckles, his arm slowly turned to iron and he leaped forward, pulling his fist back for a punch.

" _ **Dark River!**_ " Another voice called out, the dog suddenly opened it's mouth and a beam of black energy fired from it, Seth barely had a chance to dodge –with the beam barely grazing his side, as he recovered, they heard applause coming from the same direction that the dog had first appeared from.

A hooded figure walked out of the bushes, still clapping, he finally stopped applauding and raised his hands to his hood, he pulled it down and revealed his long, black hair, and a dull gray eyes "Well well, what have we here?" He then swept his arm across the group in front of him "Siblings with no home, a girl abandoned by her family, a jester who smiles to hide the pain, and one who's family has been scattered to the winds..."

"Looks like someone's done their homework..." Rin joked as claws made from water slowly formed around his hands "Like it's gonna do you any good! Everyone, go on ahead, I'll handle this guy!" the others voiced their agreement and they tried to make a run for it.

"I won't let you get away!" Ichiro yelled, whistling for Yomi to pursue "Yomi! _**Dark Rush!**_ " a shell of black energy formed around the dog as it charged towards the others.

"I don't think so!" Rin shouted, taking a deep breath and unleashing a torrent of black water " _ **Water God's Bellow!**_ " the water swept away Yomi and knocked him into a tree; momentarily dazing him "What are you waiting for!? I told you to get going!"

The others disappeared behind the treeline, but Seth stayed behind for a moment "Hey, Wet-head, don't go losing to this weirdo, alright?" he flashed a taunting grin towards Rin, before following the others out of the clearing.

"No way am I gonna lose here..." Rin replied, stretching out his arms and legs, an equally cocky smile on his face as well "Right then, show me what you've got, you bastard!"

"Hmph...such impudence, I'll snuff that confidence" Ichiro said as Yomi recovered from the blow "Yomi! _**Dark Flow!**_ " Two beams of darkness fired from Yomi's mouth and quickly shot towards Rin, who dodged out of the way of one, but was caught off guard by the other one; he was barely able to bring up his arms in time to block the attack.

"It ain't impudence if you can back up your talk!" Rin responded, holding his hands behind him as a blob of water formed between them, slowly forming a scythe " _ **Water Scythe!**_ " He leaped towards Ichiro and swung, his attack unfortunately missed but he cut clear through several trees behind him.

"It seems you've got strength, but you seem to lack the skill to use it effectively" Ichiro taunted, he then thrust his arm forward "Yomi! _**Dark Jaw!**_ " Yomi jumped onto Rin's back as a black aura covered Yomi's fangs, he then bit down and sunk his fangs deep into Rin's shoulder, causing him to scream in pain.

Rin tried to pry the dog off of him, but it's fangs were deep in him, " _ **W-Water Body!**_ " suddenly, his body turned into an amorphous, watery figure, causing Yomi to fall through him "Try and bit this, ya mutt!"

"Ha! How clever" Ichiro praised, calling Yomi back to his side "But how long can you last in that form? How much magic power will you waste with it?" Rin knew he was right, he couldn't remain in that form forever.

" _I'm gonna have to take him down before I run outta steam..._ " Rin thought to himself, he launched himself towards Ichiro again, spinning his scythe over his head, swinging it at him and scoring a hit on his arm "How about you quit talking and fight?"

"Very well, no more games" Ichiro replied, Yomi fired off more beams of darkness as Rin either dodged out of the way of them, or simply allowed them to pass through his watery body "Hmph, let's see you dodge this, Yomi! _**Dark Ruin!**_ "

Yomi opened his mouth and a large ball of darkness began to form, Rin tried to run towards it, but Yomi fired off the ball before he could reach him, getting engulfed in the blast as it expanded, the blast was so large that even Seth's group could see it.

"No...Rin!" Kagome cried, trying to turn around, but she was stopped by Dawn "Let me go! I have to help him!" She kept struggling, but Dawn kept a tight grip on her, eventually Kagome gave up and stopped fighting back, simply looking at the dissipating ball of darkness.

"Rin will be fine, he's strong" Dawn said, trying to reassure Kagome "Besides, we can't afford to go back; if they know we're here, we have to find the captives before they leave" Kagome gave a little nod, still looking back at where the fight was taking place, before turning back to the others.

Back with Rin, he was laying on the ground, his magic being overpowered by the attack, Ichiro sauntered over to him and stooped over, grabbing Rin by his hair and pulling him up "How very disappointing..." he dropped Rin's head and stood back up, kicking him hard in the stomach, causing him to cough and nearly vomit "Ah, I see you've yet to leave us...Yomi, finish him off, _**Dark River!**_ "

Yomi fired off one more beam, which hit Rin in the chest, sending him flying into a tree, breaking it in half " _I can't...give up here..._ " Rin panted, shakily standing, there was suddenly a wet feeling around his feet, and he found himself standing in a puddle " _It's gonna have to do..._ " He started inhaling, causing the puddle to turn into a small waterspout, he drank the water as it flew up to his mouth, feeling his power slightly returning.

"There you are!" Ichiro yelled as he and Yomi dove at him, but they were both blown back as Rin unleashed another Bellow "Tch, why do you continue to struggle?"

"I don't like when guys like you get their way..." Rin replied, wiping the water off of his mouth, he reformed his scythe and attacked Ichiro once again, swinging it at Ichiro multiple times, which Ichiro found harder to dodge, the scythe finally dug into Ichiro's chest, knocking him to the ground, Yomi approached his master, sniffing at the wound "Now who's all talk?"

Rin then turned to join the others, but before he could leave, he heard a weak laughing behind him, he turned around to see a green aura coming from Yomi and reaching out to Ichiro " _ **Inugami: White Magic!**_ " Ichiro rasped, as the wound on his chest began to close, once it fully closed, he stood up and held his arms out to his side, a wicked smile on his face "Don't you understand?! I am Immortal!"

"You gotta be kidding me..." Rin sighed, jumping backwards as Yomi tried to bite him once again, he formed his scythe once again and jumped back into the battle...

Meanwhile, back with Seth's group, they had finally reached the enemies hideout, where they saw the slavers loading the last of the captives into the back of the carriages "Crap! We've gotta stop them!" Seth yelled, running towards the carriages.

Before he could reach them, a ball of water splashed down in front of him, stopping him in his tracks "Rin!? Was that you?" He shouted, spinning around, but he was surprised to see a woman he had never seen before "Huh? Who are you?"

"I'm sorry...I must do this" Nerissa replied, she began humming a song to herself and Seth realized she must have been the one putting them under a spell, he quickly threw his hands over his ears, blocking out the music, but the music kept ringing in his head.

Before Nerissa could have him under her spell, she had to dodge out of the way as a shadowy fist flew towards her, breaking her focus and releasing Seth "Please go! I'll hold her off!" Kagome yelled.

"We'll stay here as well! Dawn, you and Seth go on ahead!" Ariadne ordered, Dawn nodded and joined Seth, as they ran after the carriages, Ariadne sent away Aquila "Thank you for your assistance, Aquila, but you've done enough today, please rest."

"Of course my lady, I only regret that I couldn't help more" Aquila answered as he faded away, Ariadne then took another key off of her key-ring, this one was also a silver key, decorated with a picture of a painter's easel.

" _ **Open! Gate of the Easel: Pictor!**_ " Ariadne recited, a silver magic circle appeared from the key and a white-haired man dressed in a black turtleneck and matching black pants, he held a palette in one hand and a brush in the other.

"Ah, Miss Ariadne, a pleasure" He said simply, dipping his brush in one of the swatches on the palette "What do you need of me this time?" he examined their surroundings and quickly understood what was going on "Very well, combat it is."

Dawn looked back at Ariadne, who was prepping herself for a fight "Be careful! Don't be afraid to fall back!" she then turned her attention back to the carriages "There! Grab that one!" she called, pointing at one that was close to her and Seth.

"Right, hold on!" Seth replied, using his magic to create chains, he grabbed Dawn's arm and threw the chains at the carriage, they wrapped around a peg on the back of it and Seth pulled the two of them towards it, they grabbed onto it as they started moving, Seth gave one look back at his allies as they quickly disappeared from sight, with the carriages quickly leaving the clearing...

THE END!

A.N: Sorry if this one felt a little short, I might have rushed the ending somewhat, I hope you all enjoy nonetheless!


	5. Chapter 4

Fairy Tail: Bonds of Silver- Chapter 4: Storm Raging!

(Sorry for not posting yesterday, It wasn't exactly writer's block, but for some reason I couldn't think of what to write, I _knew_ what I wanted to happen in this chapter, I just didn't know _how_ , so I decided to give it some more thought and postpone it a day, hope you guys still enjoy!)

Seth and Dawn were still clinging to the back of the carriage as it raced through the countryside "Hang on, Dawn!" Seth yelled over the clatter of the wheels on the ground, he felt her grip tighten on his arm and he wrapped the chain around his wrist " _They've gotta stop at some point, just gotta make sure we don't slip off!_ "

As the two of them clung for their lives, the back of the carriage opened slightly, with a young woman poking her head out from the inside "Please, we're here to assist you, let us in!" Dawn pleaded, closing her eyes against the winds "We mean you no harm, I swear!"

The woman looked at the two mages, a blank look on her face, she then looked down at the chain that Seth was holding on to "Come on, pull us up already!" she seemed to understand what they had said, reaching down towards the chain...which she then detached from the carriage, shocking both Seth and Dawn into stunned silence "...You gotta be kidding me..."

"Brace yourself!" Dawn yelled as the two of them started bouncing against the ground, they soon skidded to a halt, no worse for wear, Dawn looked over at Seth and saw that he had encased his body in iron "Are you alright?" She asked, helping him to his feet.

"Gonna take a lot more than that to hurt me" Seth replied, tapping his fist against his head, resulting in a metallic thud "But forget about me, how are you?"

Dawn examined her clothes, which had been scuffed up in the fall, small tears covered her coat, and her leggings had torn; revealing small scrapes running down her legs "I'm alright, nothing my magic can't block out, anyway."

"Ah, right, Altering Magic" Seth recalled, remembering that Dawn's magic allowed her to change her body's chemical processes, allowing her to ignore pain, or giving her an adrenaline rush as needed "We should get back on the trail as soon as possible."

Dawn nodded in reply and pointed at the wheel marks on the ground "We should be able to follow these, with any luck, they won't have gotten far, we should stay low –in case they've dispatched guards" they both crouched low and continued following the trail, ducking out of sight when they thought they saw someone approaching.

The trail soon went cold, leading them into a quarry "They must've gone in here, think we can sneak in?" Seth asked, looking around for a way to enter without being seen, but the flat plains of the quarry gave them little options "It's no good...they'd be able to see us even if we went up high..."

"If there's nowhere to hide, perhaps we can blend in?" Dawn suggested, approaching the rock wall and placing her hand against it " _ **Mor!**_ " as she said that, Seth noticed that her skin had begun to change, matching the color of the rocks.

"Great idea!" Seth praised as his skin turned into metal once more "Okay, if we can get higher, they won't be able to see us!, but there's one more thing..." he said, starting to take off his jacket, only to be stopped by Dawn, catching on to what he was about to do.

"What are you doing?!" She questioned, grabbing his arm "We don't need to go _that_ far!" she then gestured over to a rock wall next to her "Just make sure they can only see your head, now, can you make us a ladder?"

"Oh, Okay" Seth simply replied, walking over to the wall she indicated "Shouldn't be too hard..." he then cracked his knuckles and began to channel his magic " _ **Iron God's...**_ ladder" He created several, staple-like metal bars, he then threw them at the wall with enough force to embed them into the stone "Done!"

Dawn put a hand on one of the rungs, giving it a few test pulls "It will have to do, let's get going before they notice we're here" she quickly climbed the ladder, peering over the top to make sure no one was there "It's clear, you can come up!"

"Alright, it's clear down here too!" Seth replied, examining the entrance of the quarry, before turning back around and climbing the ladder as well, joining Dawn on the ridge "So far, so good, they gotta be further in" he got to the edge of the ridge and scanned the area around them "...It's no good, I can't see anything..."

"They couldn't have gotten that far, let's keep moving" Dawn said, moving along the ridge, making sure to stay low...

Meanwhile, back with Ariadne and Kagome, They had been kept on the defensive as Nerissa slung spell after spell at them, nearly flooding their battlefield " _ **Knuckle Shadow!**_ " Kagome yelled, sending a shadowy fist towards Nerissa, who dove to the side and dodged the blow "Is he almost finished?!" she asked, turning to see Pictor still at his easel.

"Have some patience, Ms. Sombra, but perfection cannot be rushed..." Pictor replied, shockingly calm for being on a battlefield "But, I have finished my first artwork, here you are" he took something from his pocket and threw them to Kagome, who caught the mysterious object with a shadowy fist.

"Forgive me, but I cannot allow you to pass!" Nerissa apologized, throwing several blades of water towards the heroes, which they narrowly avoided, though the blades scored some hits, slightly cutting both girls as they dodged "If you surrender here, you can walk away!"

"Surrendering was never an option" Ariadne simply answered, straightening herself "Once we set our minds to it, we don't give up!" Nerissa sent more blades at Ariadne, who simply stood still "Now, Pictor!" at her command, Pictor's easel began to glow as something emerged from it...

And suddenly, the blades were blocked by a figure clad in knightly armor, wielding both an arming sword and a buckler "What better to protect a lady than a knight?" Pictor asked, a proud smile on his face as he observed his creation "But please, do keep the time limit in mind, my creations can only last for an hour."

"Duly noted, Pictor" Ariadne replied, smiling as well "Now Sir Knight, could you please handle our guest?" The knight silently nodded, rushing towards Nerissa, slashing and thrusting, landing several hits against her.

"Don't count me out!" Kagome yelled, summoning another shadowy fist, punching Nerissa right in the stomach, staggering her and opening her up for another attack, Pictor's knight took advantage of the opening and slammed his buckler into her chest.

Nerissa was dazed by the blow, but she was still on her feet, as she regained her senses, Ariadne and Kagome noticed that dark clouds had begun to gather over head, with thunder and lightning raging from with them.

"What's going on? Is she doing this?" Kagome asked as a torrential downpour broke from the clouds, washing them away as they struggled against the current "Ariadne!? Are you okay?!" Kagome struggled to keep her head above the water.

"I'm fine!, Just keep moving!" Ariadne yelled back, desperately trying to be heard over the raging waters, eventually giving in as her body was dragged below the tides, but much to their relief, the rain soon stopped, the skies cleared once again and the waters disappeared into the forest, Ariadne and Pictor had grabbed onto a tree trunk, while Kagome had used her shadows to secure herself on a tree branch.

"Without much water around, that spell won't last long...but that wave put some distance between us" Nerissa explained, taking a deep breath and starting her song once again, trying to place the girls under her spell, but much to her surprise, neither of them seemed to be effected "W-What!? How is this possible?!"

"The Durrell family goes through extensive training to resist mental control" Ariadne informed her, letting go of the tree and standing tall "And as for Kagome, we developed a way to counter your song..."

Taking this as her cue, Kagome reached up and pulled something out of her ear, showing it off to Nerissa "Earplugs!" she proclaimed, placing the plug back in her ear " _Though they won't last forever, we'll have to end this quickly..._ "

"Very well...but I should inform you, Humans aren't the only beings my spells work on..." Nerissa said, as she this information left her mouth, Pictor's knight turned to face the girl's, pointing its sword directly at Ariadne.

The knight began menacingly walking towards Ariadne, who quickly scanned her surroundings for a means to defend herself, the knight raised his blade high, preparing for a strike.

" _ **Guard Shadow!**_ " Kagome yelled, creating a shadowy barrier in front of her friend, causing the sword to harmlessly bounce off of it "I'll hold him off, you and Pictor focus on her! _**Knuckle Shadow!**_ " The dark fist almost landed, but the knight was able to bring up his buckler in time, though he was still knocked back quite a bit from the blow.

"Alright, you just need to keep him on the ropes until time runs out!" Ariadne replied, she then pulled out Pictor's key and began twirling it in front of her "Pictor, make something that can take her out, I'll distract her! _**Celestial Fireworks!**_ " a dazzling flash of golden light shot forth from the key, which Nerissa countered with a ball of water.

The two continued exchanging shots, each blow perfectly countering the other, until Pictor finally finished his next painting, which was a young woman wielding a saber in one hand, and a pistol in the other, she opened fire on Nerissa, who attempted to counter the bullets with more water, but she was too focused on the bullets to notice that both Ariadne and the Musketeer had moved closer.

"Take her down!" Ariadne ordered, shooting off one more blast of Celestial Fireworks, which was then followed up by a devastating slash from the Musketeer, causing Nerissa to drop to her knees, defeated "Kagome, how are you holding up?"

Ariadne turned around to see that Kagome had successful tied up the knight, who was struggling against the shadows that bound him "I think that should hold until the time is up, what about her?"

She looked past Ariadne, who was still turned away from Nerissa, suddenly, Kagome gasped and her eyes went wide in terror "Ariadne, look out!" she warned, before she could react, Ariadne was shoved out of the way by the Musketeer as a watery tentacle pierced through her body, turning her back into paint and splashing on the ground.

Ariadne recovered from the shock and saw that Nerissa was still stirring "I...I cannot lose here, my guildmates are counting on me" as she spoke, scales began growing on her body and her skin turned blue "You must fall..." her transformation was complete, taking on a monstrous appearance, bearing down on the two girls...

As they fought, Rin had continued to his struggle against Ichiro and Yomi, but every time he seemed to be gaining the upper hand, Ichiro simply healed the damage "You struggle in vain, little hatchling, you cannot defeat me, and I know you don't have it in you to kill me!"

" _How can I beat this guy?! I can't get close enough to knock him out before he heals..._ " Rin thought, breathing heavily as he felt his Magic power leaving him "I gotta admit, I might not know how to take you down... but I'm the only thing standing between you and my friends, so there's no way in hell you're getting past me!"

Rin formed two giant fists of water around his hands and rushed towards Ichiro, only to be blocked by Yomi "Good luck healing from this, not even Hard-Head can stand up to these! _**Aquarium Lotus: Water God's Fists!**_ " he then laid into Yomi with a combo of punches, each one hitting harder than the last "I'm gonna send you flying!" He yelled, hitting Yomi with one final punch, sending the dog skidding across the ground and colliding with Ichiro, knocking both into a tree "*Pant* There...heal from that...bastard..."

"As you wish..." Ichiro taunted as his wounds closed up once more, he stood tall once again, while Rin began to feel fatigue washing over him "You have put up an admirable fight, but I have no time for games..." Yomi slowly walked over to Rin, who couldn't even raise his fist anymore " _ **Dark Jaw!**_ "

Darkness surrounded Yomi's fangs once again as he dove towards Rin, but before the attack could connect, they heard something rushing towards them, before any of them could react, they were blindsided by a large wave of water.

"Damn! This must be Nerissa's doing!" Ichiro swore as he fought to stay above the water "Wait...is it...receding?" he looked back at Rin and saw that he was somehow drinking all of the water "What is he doing?!"

As he drank the last of the water, Rin wiped his mouth, feeling his magic return and course through his veins "Guess you didn't do enough homework, huh?" he taunted, he then heard a growling as Yomi attacked once again –but this time, Rin was able to get the drop on Yomi, grabbing him by the throat as he dove at him "Down boy, _**Water God's Freeze!**_ " suddenly, Yomi was completely encased in ice.

"Y-Yomi...what have you done?!" Ichiro yelled, his confidence quickly replaced by fear as Rin turned to face him "Damn you!" he tried throwing a punch at Rin, but he was easily countered and thrown to the ground.

"You rely on your pet too much" Rin calmly stated, cracking his knuckles and forming his Aquarium Lotus fists once again "Let me show you how to throw a _real_ punch..." he reared back his fist and slammed it down on Ichiro's head, knocking the man unconscious, seeing that he had one, Rin sat down, trying to catch his breath "Phew...that was way harder than I thought."

As he recovered, he felt a strong magic power behind him, he quickly scrambled to his feet and saw a bald man had suddenly appeared in the field "Who the hell are you?!" he asked, the man didn't answer right away, but simply pointed a staff at Rin "You one of his allies?!"

" _ **Furcht**_ " the man said, causing a deathly green glow to appear at the tip of his staff, and suddenly, an intense feeling of fear came over Rin, causing him to drop to his knees.

"I...I...what is this?!" Rin questioned, feeling himself slip deeper and deeper into despair "No..." the man then walked past Rin and grabbed Ichiro, slinging him over his shoulder "G-Get...back h-here" Rin tried to sound intimidating, but his voice shook with terror as the man teleported away, leaving him alone in the clearing, curling into a ball from the fear...

A.N: Again, sorry for not posting yesterday, I hope you guys still enjoy!


	6. Chapter 5

Fairy Tail: Bonds of Silver- Chapter 5: Facing Fears

(Sorry for the late start, I got distracted playing Kingdom Hearts 3 (Which I highly recommend, by the way) hopefully this won't come out too much later than normal)

Dawn and Seth had continued their investigation of the quarry, still unable to find anything "Hmm...I coulda sworn I saw those carriages come down this way..." Seth thought aloud, putting a hand to his chin. He looked over to Dawn, who had kept going on without him.

"They must be somewhere, we cannot leave until we find those people" She said, not turning around to face him "It's our duty to safeguard them" suddenly –she stopped in her tracks, holding up one hand "Wait, do you hear that?"

Seth stood still; straining his ears to catch what Dawn was talking about "We should send someone to finish off those Guild punks!" he heard someone say, he quietly ran towards Dawn and looked down to where she had indicated.

Down on the floor of the quarry were the carriages, though the captives were no where to be seen –though the two of them assumed that they were still inside, they searched for who was talking and saw three men; One was an older bald man with a staff in one hand and the prone form of Ichiro tucked under his other arm, the second was a muscular man with dark green hair shaved into a buzz cut, and the third was a thin man with flowing blond hair with a longsword strapped to his belt.

" _You_ will stay here and safeguard the cargo, _I_ will go and assist Nerissa" The bald man said, dropping Ichiro to the ground "Get someone to tend to his wounds, I will return shortly."

"That one with the staff must be the leader..." Dawn concluded, carefully examining the opponents in front of her "Alright, We'll have to plan carefully, you should be able to handle the green-haired one, I'll fight the blond one, do you understand, Se-" she looked over at Seth and saw that he was gone "What!? Where did he go!?"

"Hey!, baldy!" She heard from the canyon floor, the voice made her blood run cold, she looked down and saw that Seth had somehow descended into the quarry and was approaching the enemies "Those people aren't cargo, they're _people!_ " he yelled, his face contorted in pure anger.

The bald man turned to Seth, a wicked smile on his face as he chuckled "Ah, the insect buzzes straight into the web..." he then noticed Dawn sliding down the rock wall as well "Two? How serendipitous..."

"We cannot allow you to escape! Please surrender!" Dawn shouted, turning herself to stone once again, she then walked up to Seth and whispered in his ear " _You could have waited, you know_."

Seth couldn't help but let out an embarrassed chuckle "Sorry, guess I got a little carried away..." they then both turned their attention back to the enemy "Anyway, she's right, we're here to put a stop to whatever it is you're doing!"

The bald man laughed, pointing his staff at the two mages "Two young upstarts, it almost pains me to extinguish lights like yours" his staff began to glow green once again " _ **Verzagen**_ _ **!**_ " Seth and Dawn attempted to dodge the spell, but they suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of despair "Remember, young ones, the will of the Gods cannot be stopped, this cargo will be used to appease them..."

Seth and Dawn both collapsed to their knees, eyes tightly shut as the leader turned to his two companions "Austri, Vestri, I shall leave the disposal of these two to you, I will go and assist Nerissa" before the two could reply, the man teleported away.

"Damn that Garm...leaving us behind with scraps!" The green-haired man cursed, kicking a stone at Seth, who did not react to the assault as his mind was racked with fear "These two are no threat, we should go and join in on the action!"

"Calm yourself, Austri" The Blond –now known as Vestri- said, trying to keep his friend in line "Garm hired us to protect the cargo, if we leave, we may invoke his wrath, and we wouldn't want to bring the wrath of Crimson Jackal down upon us, would we?"

"...I suppose you're right, Vestri..." Austri conceded, letting out an annoyed sigh, he looked back at Seth and Dawn; who were still on the ground, muttering to themselves "I suppose we should let Garm's magic run its course, if they should survive, I'll finish them off..."

"M-Mother..." Dawn mumbled, inside her mind; she was back in Turquesa, the sky was red with black clouds rolling slowly above head "Where...where am I?" she walked through the city and found it completely silent "Hello? Is anyone there?"

She soon found herself standing outside of the Guild Hall "Please! Someone answer me!" she tried to enter, but the door wouldn't budge "No! Don't leave me alone!"

As she tried to force her way in, she heard a voice that sounded as if it was coming from the air itself " **I should never have opened the door on that day, perhaps someone else would have found her...** " hearing this voice, Dawn stumbled backwards from the door.

"Mother?!" She questioned, she ran over to one of the windows and began pounding on it "Is anyone there?! Seth? Kagome? Rin? Anyone?!" she kept hitting the window, but the building seemed to be empty.

" **Seriously, they way she walks around the guild? She's obviously thinking she's better than us!** " Another voice said, this one she recognized as Seth, she dropped to her knees and covered her ears, trying to block out the voices.

" **Yeah! She hardly talks to anyone, how can we trust her if she never says a word?!** " This time it was Rin's voice, it was all beginning to be too much as tears welled up in Dawn's eyes.

"Please...make it stop..." She cried, trying to keep the voices out –to no avail "They wouldn't say these things..." the voices continued, saying things to break her will "Stop! Please!" she wailed, tears now freely streaming down her face...

Meanwhile, Seth was in a similar situation; the same red sky, same black clouds, but he was instead standing in an empty field "Yo! Where did everybody go? Dawn? Baldy?" he started walking through the fields, his emotions on edge "Where the hell am I?"

" **Seth...please...** " He heard a voice call, the voice sounded somewhat familiar to him, but he couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from "Hey! Where are you?!" he started running around the field, trying to find where the voice was coming from –he soon found it, though he wished he hadn't...

Laying in the field were the bodies of his guildmates, motionless, with only the wind causing their hair and clothes to move "No...What the hell happened?!" Seth looked around the field, seeing all of his comrades before him.

" **Seth...why didn't you help us?** " All of their voices said at once, speaking directly into his mind " **How could you abandon us like that?** " he looked around and saw all of his allies all starting to slowly rise, beginning to approach him.

"This can't be real...this can't be real..." Seth repeated over and over again, backing away from them, as he backed up, he stumbled over himself and fell "Not real, not real..." suddenly an idea struck him "Wait...this has gotta be that bald guy's spells! How do I break it?!"

The bodies of his friends kept coming towards him as he tried to think of a way to escape the spell as they descended upon him, trying to tear him apart...

Back in the real world, Vestri and Austri were watching over Seth and Dawn, waiting for the opportunity to finish them off "This is getting boring, why not just kill them now?" Austri complained, crossing his arms.

"Austri, please control yourself" Vestri sighed, face-palming, as they spoke –Vestri noticed that both Seth and Dawn were starting to stir "Though, I must admit, I figured their spirits would be broken by now."

Austri let out a low, sinister laugh "Maybe there's a way to...expedite the process" he approached Seth's body and picked him up by the neck "This one looks like he can take a beating" he reared back his empty fist and prepared to punch, but before he could, he felt something stab into his foot, he looked down and saw Dawn had crawled over to him and stabbed his foot with a hidden knife.

"Well well, looks like this one was stronger...tell me, young lady, how did you escape?" Vestri asked, casually approaching them.

"The window..." Dawn simply answered, flashing back to when she was under the spell, she had managed to punch through a window on the guild hall, cutting herself on the glass as she did "The pain freed me from the spell..."

Hearing this, Austri smiled "Good, It's no fun when they can't fight back..." He laughed, stomping down on Dawn's hand, trapping her dagger "Maybe I'll start with you instead of your little boy-toy here..." after saying this, he tossed Seth to the ground and kicked Dawn into the wall of the quarry.

As Dawn tried to regain her senses, she saw Austri slowly lumber towards her, laughing as he cracked his knuckles " _Damn...I won't be able to take them both on my own..._ " She then looked over at Seth, who had yet to awaken, she looked down at the knife in her hand and an idea came to her " _...He'll forgive me for this eventually..._ "

She quickly scrambled towards Seth and poised her dagger to strike "What? You think we're gonna stop if you sacrifice your friend?" Austri taunted, stopping to see what Dawn would do "Go ahead, take him out, see if I care..."

Seeing a perfect opportunity, Dawn plunged the dagger into Seth's shoulder, waking him up from the spell "Huh?! What happened?! Where are we?" he then felt something warm running down his shoulder, he looked down and saw a dagger sticking out of his shoulder and saw Dawn sitting next to him, allowing him to put two and two together "Wait...you _STABBED_ me!?"

"That's not important right now" Dawn replied, shakily standing up "We have to deal with this two" Seth removed the dagger from his arm and handed it back to Dawn "Remember the plan? You go for the green-haired one, and I'll go for the blond one."

Seth looked at Austri, sizing up his opponent "Alright, I think I can take him" he cracked his knuckles as metal covered his body once more, he then held his fist out to Dawn "How about an upgrade?"

Dawn smiled and bumped fists with Seth " _ **Mor!**_ " her skin then began to change into the same metal as Seth "Let's show them why they shouldn't underestimate us!" the two of them dove into battle, with Seth tackling Austri, both of them tumbling out of the canyon, both throwing punches and swearing.

Vestri and Dawn stared each other down, neither one making a move "Well, I suppose it would be gentlemanly to allow you to make the first move..." he held his arms out to his sides, waiting for Dawn to attack.

"How kind of you..." Dawn mocked, poising her dagger to strike, she ran towards Vestri –but suddenly, something grabbed her ankle, causing her to trip "What!?" she looked down at her leg and saw a hand gripping her ankle "Is this your magic?!"

"My, you're a fast learner..." Vestri answered, pulling his hands out from behind his back, his right hand was gone, vanishing within a portal from the wrist down "I'm a skilled practitioner of Portal Magic, I don't even need to move from this spot to take you down..." he then opened another portal and kicked through it, the other end of the portal opened under Dawn and Vestri's foot shot out and hit her in the stomach, knocking her back.

He then opened another and threw his fist through, punching her in the face "Don't you see? No matter where I am, I can hit you from all angles, face it, I have won" he then opened up one more portal and thew another punch "This is the end!" but this time, the punch didn't land and instead felt pain in his hand, he looked at Dawn and saw that she had plunged her dagger into his hand.

"You haven't won yet..." She said, grabbing Vestri's arm "I will not bow!" she yelled, pulling Vestri's arm as hard as she could "You showed me your own weakness!" She kept pulling, as Vestri struggled to free his arm from her grasp.

"What are you doing, you fool!" Vestri yelled, slowly getting pulled into the portal, suddenly, realization struck him "Ha! You truly _are_ a fast learner, I won't be able to close this portal, smart girl..." even when he realized her plan, Dawn refused to stop pulling, eventually pulling Vestri through the portal and slamming him into the ground.

"Now, let's have a fair fight!" She yelled, throwing a punch of her own, Vestri rolled out of the way as the punch shattered the ground next to him and he attempted to disappear into another portal, but Dawn grabbed him by the leg and pulled him out of it "I won't allow you to escape!"

" _Damn...this girl is a handful...perhaps I should have fought the other one..._ " Vestri thought, kicking Dawn away from him, creating some distance between the two of them " _Perhaps Austri is having an easier time?_ "

Meanwhile, Seth and Austri had stopped tumbling and were now fighting each other, punches colliding with each other and savage body blows landed, though neither of them seemed to be slowing down "What the hell are you made of?!" Seth yelled, shaking the pain from his fist.

Austri began flexing, and Seth noticed that his skin had a slight shine to it "My magic allows me to increase the density of my skin and muscles! Increasing my offensive and defensive capabilities! I am the spear _and_ the shield of Imp Horn!" Seth recognized the name of the guild and realized Austri had the same guild mark as the men he handed over to the sheriff in Turquesa "And I will use these skills to avenge my guildmates! Come at me, Eisenhaupt!"

"I'm gonna throw you into the same cell with your guildmates!" Seth retorted, transforming his arms into a sword and a shield, he then ran towards Austri, who let out a bellowing roar and charged towards Seth as well.

"Let us see which will break first, Eisenhaupt!" He yelled as the two of them started to clash...

THE END!

A.N: I decided to make this one focused more on Seth and Dawn, since they've been kinda sidelined while everyone else fought, hope you enjoy!


	7. Chapter 6

Fairy Tail: Bonds of Silver- Chapter 6: The Tide Recedes!

(Before I start, I want to talk about something I should have addressed earlier; Character Ages- specifically the ages of characters in Silver Hippogriff, a lot of them are 15 or younger, and I know canon guilds (Or maybe it's just Fairy Tail and Lamia Scale) admit younger people into their ranks, but it feels somewhat weird that a decent portion of the guild are 15, so, my question is; would it be alright if I aged them up? Not anything too drastic, just to like 18 or so? Anyways, that's all I wanted to say, let's get this show started!)

Kagome and Ariadne found themselves at their limit, backed against a wall by Nerissa –who's transformation had seemingly increased her power to an unprecedented level, they were put on the defensive as Nerissa sent out wave after wave of water.

As the waters receded, Ariadne noticed that anything that had been touched had started smoking, as if it had been burned "Something's different about these attacks, try not to let the water touch you!" she yelled, warning Kagome "Pictor! We need something big!"

"Forgive me, my lady, but I have little opportunity to paint" Pictor replied, eerily calm in all of the chaos "We'll have to find a way to divide her attention" Kagome looked around at her side of the conflict, both Pictor's knight and the earplugs he had made for her were starting to melt.

" _The hour's up...I have to give them some time..._ " She thought, turning back to Nerissa "Ariadne, I'll try and get her attention" Before either Ariadne or Pictor could say argue, Kagome ran towards Nerissa, charging a spell " **Shadow Orochi!** "

A purple magic circle appeared on the ground and began radiating a bright light of the same color, 8 shadowy snake heads emerged from it and quickly flew towards Nerissa, who swiftly dodged as the snakes came close, but they were able to change direction in midair and continue pursuing her, striking her several times in the back.

"This spell hunts down it's targets relentlessly!" Kagome explained, trying to ignore the fatigue she was now feeling "You cannot escape from it!"

Nerissa kept trying to dodge the snakes, but she found it was futile "Very well...I'll endure this pain for my guild!" She shouted, dashing towards Kagome as the snakes continued biting her, ignoring the pain as she went.

"What?! She's just letting them attack her?!" Yelled Kagome, shocked by what Nerissa was doing, she snapped herself out of it as she saw Nerissa was coming towards her, she tried to cast Guard Shadow, but she couldn't react in time as she felt sharp claws digging into her shoulder, she was lifted off the ground by Nerissa and thrown aside, slamming hard into the ground.

"I'm sorry, this is the way it must be..." Nerissa apologized, looking over at Kagome's prone form as the shadows dissipated, she said a silent prayer and turned back to Ariadne "I must take care of you as well, please forgive me."

Ariadne remained silent as she turned and ran into the forest, Nerissa glanced back at Kagome one last time before taking off after Ariadne "I can't allow you to escape!" she called, throwing several blades of water towards the fleeing form of Ariadne, the blades narrowly missed her as she continued to run " _Why isn't she fighting back? Has she given up?_ "

The pursuit carried on for a long while, with Nerissa firing off more attacks and Ariadne either dodging them or simply letting the blades cut her, though nothing seemed to do lasting damage " _What is going on here?!_ "

Enraged by what was happening, Nerissa let loose one last attack, sending the blade towards Ariadne...and cutting her in half, staining the trees around her as the two halves fell to the floor. Nerissa finally stopped and processed what had just happened "I didn't want to kill her...but I didn't have many options..." she lamented the lose of life as she approached the body, but something felt off.

She examined one of the trees and noticed that the liquid splattered on it was too dark to be blood "Is this...paint?" she questioned, quickly turning back to the body to see that the halves had begun to dissolve "What!? It was a fake?"

As she discovered this, she felt something clamp around her wrist, she looked down and noticed that a pair of handcuffs had been placed on her, she jumped back and saw Pictor behind her "I do apologize for this deception, but Miss Durrell thought this would be the best way to deal with you."

"How is this possible?!" Nerissa questioned, trying to tear off the handcuffs, but the longer they were attached to her, the more she felt her magic power being drained away from her "What...are these...?" she questioned, falling to her knees.

"Those cuffs are constructed from Sealing Stone" Pictor explained, dipping his brush into some paint "Without the key, there is no way for you to remove them and you will be unable to use magic while they are attached, they may not be as strong as the real thing, but they will get the job done..."

As Pictor explained, he suddenly fell silent as he felt an overwhelming pressure fill the air "Show yourself, hiding will do you no favors..." he called, masking his fear as a bald man walked out of the treeline "And who are you?"

Nerissa immediately recognized the man and a mix of relief and fear washed over her "M-Master Garm, what are you doing here?" a brief look of disappointment flashed in Garm's eyes as he looked at Nerissa.

He then looked back at Pictor and pointed his staff at the spirit "She is one of my disciples, I request that you hand her over this instant..."

Pictor was a bit taken aback by the polite way the man spoke, but he was able to pick up on the venom behind the words "I'm afraid I cannot do that, this woman, as well as any of your other 'disciples' have terrorized innocent people, as such; we cannot allow them to roam free."

Garm scoffed at Pictor's words, a smirk appearing on his face "I see your master has taught you insolence, Lapdog..." he pointed his staff at Pictor once more and a bright green fireball shot from the end of it, slamming into his chest.

Once the fireball connected with Pictor, he let go of Nerissa and desperately tried to put out the fire that quickly began spreading across his body, Garm grabbed Nerissa by the wrist and pulled her behind him "You fools have meddled in our affairs long enough, the Gods will not be defied their tribute any longer!" he then used his staff to open a portal, leading Nerissa through it, he turned back to Pictor "...I was considering sparing your allies, but with how much trouble you have given us" a wide, maniacal grin slowly grew on his face as he spoke "Perhaps I will reconsider it, starting with your master."

He started laughing wickedly as the portal closed behind him, leaving Pictor laying on the ground, still smoldering from Garm's attack "Damn...Lady Ariadne, forgive me, but I must retreat..." he muttered as he faded into light, returning to the celestial spirit world.

Meanwhile, Kagome had started to regain consciousness "...Can you hear me?" she heard someone ask, her eyes slowly opened and she realized that it was Ariadne's voice "Good, I was starting to get a little worried" she said, a warm smile on her face as Kagome came to her senses.

"Ariadne? Where's the enemy?" Kagome asked, looking around the clearing, noticing that Nerissa had vanished "And where's Pictor? Did something happen?"

Ariadne helped the young girl to her feet before answering, helping her steady herself when she stumbled "I had Pictor lead her into a trap, he should have finished by now, but I haven't heard back from him..."

"Do you think something bad happened to him?" Kagome wondered, scanning the treeline "Should we try and find him?" She tried to leave the clearing, but she was held back by Ariadne.

"There's no need to be so hasty, if Pictor was successful, we should have some time to recover" She said, letting go of Kagome "Rushing off will do us no good" Kagome reluctantly agreed and joined Ariadne "Should we try and help the others?"

"If we were to do that, it may be a good idea to split up" Ariadne planned, putting a hand on her chin "I know you're probably worried about Rin, but it may be better for you to help Seth and Dawn" as they planned, a voice spoke directly into Ariadne's mind, it was Pictor's voice.

"Lady Ariadne, regrettably, I have failed you..." He said, hearing this, Ariadne pulled his key from her pocket as Pictor continued "While I was able to get the handcuffs onto the woman, I was ambushed by another, a man who claimed he'd be coming for you next, please, take caution."

"Thank you for the warning, Pictor" Ariadne replied, looking around at the surrounding trees "We'll keep an eye out for him, take care of yourself now" Pictor fell silent as Ariadne placed the key back in her pocket.

Once she put the key away, the girls heard someone approach them from the forest, the two of them prepared themselves for more enemies, but they were instead surprised once Rin stumbled out of the forest, clutching the sides of his head.

"Rin! We were worried about you!" Kagome called, running over to her brother "...Rin? Are you okay?" she asked, seeing that Rin wasn't replying, instead; he was staggering around the clearing, muttering to himself.

"N-No...leave me alone!" He yelled, falling to the ground and batting at something that the others couldn't see "Stay away!" as he continued flailing, Kagome and Ariadne ran to his side -trying to rouse him out of the stupor he was in.

Kagome grabbed him by the shoulders and started shaking him "Rin? What's wrong?" she continued to shake him until he tore himself out of her grasp "Please, let us help you!" Kagome tried to bring him around, but he wasn't reacting "It's me, your sister, please snap out of it!"

"Hmm...it seems to be some type of mind-warping magic..." Ariadne observed, watching Rin as he continued to fight against the invisible adversaries "It seems to be fear-based, I know of one way to break this spell, may I?"

Kagome moved away from her brother and let Ariadne take over "Do you know some sort of counter spell? Or can one of your spirits heal it?" Ariadne didn't answer either of her questions as she placed one hand on Rin's shoulder and -much to the shock of Kagome- slapped Rin across the face with her other hand.

"A sharp enough pain from either inside or outside of the illusion can be enough to break it, though it's safer to let someone outside of the illusion break it, as any pain from the inside can kill the person under it's effects" Ariadne calmly explained as Rin writhed on the ground, from pain instead of fear.

"Ow! Why the hell did you do that?!" He shouted, rubbing his cheek when realization finally struck him "Hey! You saved me!" unbeknownst to them, Garm had entered the clearing behind them, observing them.

"Heheh...Those two will make grand sacrifices, but that boy will be a problem" He thought aloud, he then aimed his staff at Rin and charged another fireball "Perhaps seeing a comrade fall with break their spirits."

He launched the fireball towards Rin, seeing this, Kagome tried to warn him, feeling as if everything was slowing down "Rin! Look out!" she yelled, Rin turned around too late...but the fireball never found it's target, instead the three of them found themselves in the air...

"Forgive me, ladies, I know it's rude for a gentleman to drop in unannounced..." Aquila said, Kagome noticed that she and Ariadne were on his back, and Rin was held in his talons "But I thought it was pertinent that I make an appearance."

"Nice save, Feathers!" Rin called, gripping tightly onto Aquila's talons "Take us back down, we've gotta take that guy out!"

"Do not call me 'Feathers'" Aquila replied, sounding annoyed by Rin's nickname "And just so you know, I intended only to save the ladies..." Before Rin could reply, Aquila dove out of the way as another fireball flew up towards them "I'll get you in close, but I'll have to return to the spirit world, I've used up too much of my magic power today, Hold on!"

Aquila dove towards Garm, rolling out of the way of any retaliation, they finally got in close and Aquila whipped up a windstorm to distract Garm while the others jumped to the ground "Thank you! We'll be able to handle it from here!" Ariadne called over the raging winds, Aquila simply nodded and returned to the spirit world.

"My my, A Celestial Spirit Wizard...you will be a challenge" Garm said, leering at Ariadne "But once you are broken, I will offer your spirits up to the Gods!" he said, holding his arms up towards the skies as the other three prepared themselves for battle...

Back in Turquesa, Emilia was sitting in her office, speaking to two other Guild leaders "Have either of you found anything?" she asked, leafing through several files, trying to find anything that could be a clue.

One of the men let out a booming laugh, this was Tyr Highwall, a Giant who traveled to Joya from the country of Fiore and the Fourth Guildmaster of Stone Titan "There ain't much us fools in the mountains can find!" his laughter soon died down "But don't worry, little lady, I'll send some scouts to the nearby towns and see what we can dig up!"

"As for our side..." The Guildmaster of Kobold Fang, a man named Gaius Redmane, spoke up "We haven't found much information, we don't even have any record of this 'Imp Horn' guild you told us about, perhaps they're small-time bandits?"

"But why would they trust a virtually unknown bandit guild to carry out this task?" Emilia questioned, leaning back in her chair "Unless...of course, it wouldn't raise much suspicion if it were a small guild...which would allow them to cause chaos undisturbed by the Council..."

"That does make some kinda sense..." Tyr admitted, sounding uncharacteristically pensive "Maybe you can get those boys that brat of yours captured to talk, see if they know anything, we all know how...persuasive you can be" he let out one last roaring laugh as they said their goodbyes.

Emilia turned off her Lacrima and placed her head in her hands " _What is going on here?_ " She asked, she got out of her chair and looked out the window, seeing the townspeople walk around, a particular group caught her eye, a group of Guild members leaving for a mission " _I cannot allow them to come to harm...perhaps I'll do things Tyr's way..._ "

She let out a sigh and left her office, putting on a smile as her subordinates greeted her, she left the building, not letting them know what was lingering in her mind...

THE END!

A.N: In regards to what I was talking about up top, if you're alright with me changing the age of your character, let me know in either a review or a PM! Other than that, hope you enjoy!


	8. Chapter 7

Fairy Tail- Bonds of Silver: Chapter 7- Grave Tidings!

Seth and Austri were locked in combat, clashing over and over again, with Seth's blade being deflected off of Austri's hardened flesh "You have no hope, Eisenhaupt! I shall break your very spirit!" Seth kept slashing at the juggernaut before him, but was still unable to leave a mark "Give up! There is no way you can triumph!"

"Shut up! I'm not gonna let you get away!" Seth yelled, using his shield to counter and bash Austri "Those people are counting on-!" He was cut short as Austri's hardened fist slammed into his stomach and sent him skidding across the canyon floor, hitting a wall.

Austri let out a low, menacing laugh as he approached Seth "There is much you do not understand; We are the Anointed, we were chosen by the Gods, and They require tribute!" he then began punching Seth over and over again, trying to break Seth's iron shell, leaving the young man a bruised and battered mess "Those Anointed by the Gods are invincible, you have no chance..."

He then dropped Seth, leaving him on the ground, cockily smirking at his prone form "I was hoping you would put up more of a challenge" he tried to leave the area, but he felt something grip his leg, he looked down and saw that Seth was weakly pulling on his pant leg "You have lost, know your place!"

Austri then stomped down on Seth head and pressed it into the ground, he looked down at Seth; expecting to see his face twisted in pain, but was surprised to see that he was instead smirking "Y-Your hand..." he said, shakily pointing at Austri's right hand, showing that bruises and some blood had appeared on it "...Guess you're not as invincible as you thought..."

Austri raised his hand and noted the injuries, a look of slight shock on his face, but it was gone as soon as it appeared "This is nothing, a simple setback" he then reached down with his right hand and tried to grab Seth, who quickly grabbed it and squeezed hard, making Austri's face twist in pain "Agh! What the hell did you do?!" he screamed as he stumbled backwards.

"I get it now...you said your _skin and your muscles_ are hardened..." Seth spoke, shakily pushing off of the ground and getting to his feet "I'm betting your _bones_ are a different case" as he stood, his arms slowly changed into twin iron maces " _ **Iron God's Forge: Morgenstern!**_ "

"It shall do you no good, Eisenhaupt, I will still break you!" Austri yelled, running towards Seth "You cannot stop our anointment!" he reared back his arm and threw a punch at Seth, but he was deflected once again and Seth hit him in the face with the mace, Austri was undeterred and tried attacking him once again, but Seth countered each of his blows.

The two of them kept clashing, the sound of metal hitting metal filled the quarry, Seth leaped backwards and took a deep breath " _ **Iron God's Bellow!**_ " he shouted blowing out a large tornado of black metal shrapnel, Austri brought his arms up in defense "Gotcha!" Seth yelled, running through the shrapnel, he ducked low when Austri tried to hit him with a right hook "Take this!" Seth slammed one of his mace arms into Austri's chin and started extending it, raising Austri into the air.

"I don't understand...we were told...the Gods had chosen us..." Austri whispered in quiet awe, staring blankly into the sky as he started falling towards the ground "Were we...lied to?"

There was suddenly a green glow from below him, he looked down and saw a dark green magic circle forming under Seth "Sorry about this! _**Iron God's Forge: Welt Aus Stahl!**_ " the magic circle started glowing brighter and several blunt metal pillars shot out of it, all of them crashed into Austri, launching him higher into the air.

"No! You will not best me!" Austri shouted, spinning in the air and steadying himself, his body started shimmering once again as he increased the density of his body " _ **Full Power:**_ _ **Mjolnir Press!**_ " he started falling towards the earth, spreading his arms and legs "Prepare yourself, Eisenhaupt!"

Seth calmly stood in place as Austri fell towards him "All that talk about Gods...wanna see them?" he calmly asked, raising his fist, he then pulled back his arm as it slowly turned into a metal pillar and threw a punch when Austri was close enough "I'm gonna send you soaring!"

Both sides struggled to push the other back, both of them felt their bones straining from the conflict, both began to falter, but finally –Seth was able to push back Austri and sent him flying into the sky, leaving behind a small twinkle in the sky as he flew.

Seth watched as the twinkle disappeared, his breathing was ragged and his body ached, but he limped towards the mouth of the canyon trying to find his way back to Dawn and Vestri...

Meanwhile, Dawn was fighting against Vestri dodging as more of his portals appeared around the battlefield "You cannot dodge forever, you will slow down eventually, and then you shall be mine!" Vestri taunted, opening several portals at once "You're good at dodging...but how is your foresight?" he then threw a punch through one of the portals and Dawn tried dodging, but she miscalculated and was punched in the back, knocking her forward.

" _Damn! He used a different portal!_ " she thought, trying to predict where the next attack was coming from, but the blows kept landing and she was pushed into a corner " _There has to be some way to counter him!_ " She stabbed at Vestri's hands as more punches came towards her, but more often then not, she kept getting hit " _...There is one thing I can do...but it's quite dangerous..._ "

She closed her eyes and began concentrating her magic " _I'll have to be quick once I activate this..._ " she then opened her eyes and a pulse of magic surged through her body " _ **Plifier!**_ " she shouted, suddenly, steam began emanating from her body, she looked at Vestri's hand emerging from one of the portals...moving at a snails pace " _This adrenaline boost will only last for an hour...I'll have to take_ _him out before that runs out..._ "

"Hmm? What's going on?" Vestri asked, seeing the change in Dawn "Something about her body is different..." and suddenly, she seemingly vanished from the battlefield "What!? Where did she go?!" she then reappeared in front of him and punched him hard in the stomach, sending him skidding across the ground "Her speed is on a different level, what is this!?" he tried to retaliate, but Dawn disappeared once again "How is she moving this fast?!"

Vestri tried opening a portal and escaping, but he was grabbed from behind and yanked out of the portal and slammed into the ground, he swung out a fist but met only air as Dawn disappeared once again "She's become so unpredictable! I'll have to play my trump card..." he drew a secret pistol from behind his back "These magic rounds should put her down..."

He heard some rocks clatter behind him, causing him to whip around and point the gun at Dawn "Are you faster than a bullet!?" he questioned, pulling the trigger...to hit only air "No! This is impossible!" he cried, before being hit from behind and sent flying into one of the carriages, busting it open.

People began slowly climbing out of the carriage "What...is going on?" a man asked, confused as to where they were, he then saw Vestri laying in the debris "Who are you?" an idea struck Vestri as he climbed out of the wreckage.

He then pointed at Dawn, who was standing in the middle of the canyon "That woman is a wizard from a Dark Guild, she's trying to take you all away!" he lied, hoping that the captives would believe him "If any of you have magic, help me take her down!"

After hearing this, the captives looked at Dawn and were paralyzed "How...how can we hope to fight against her?" a woman asked, much to Vestri's chagrin "If she's part of a Dark Guild, there's no way we can stand up to her..."

" _Damn...Nerissa's magic must be wearing off, I can't coerce them like this..._ " Vestri cursed, seeing that none of the civilians wanted to fight "Please! If you don't fight, she will take you all away!"

"They won't side with you..." Dawn simply said, dashing towards Vestri again, but she stopped for some reason, Vestri was stunned as he saw that her fist had stopped mere inches from her face "N-No...the adrenaline...I should have more time..." she muttered, as she clutched at her chest.

She dropped to her knees as she placed both hands on her chest " _Her spell must have worn_ _off..._ " he thought, watching as she collapsed on the ground and began writhing " _This could be my only chance..._ " he drew his pistol once again "Everyone stand back, I'll finish her off!"

"W-Wait, you can't just kill her!" One of the captives yelled, reaching out towards Vestri "Don't you hand Dark guild members over to the Council, or something?" more of the civilians agreed with her and some even tried to grab at Vestri's pistol.

"Stop it! Get off of me!" Vestri yelled, shoving the captives off of him, finally managing to push all of them away "Get the hell away from me, you worthless fools!" He shouted, panting heavily and shocking everyone around him.

"Worthless? What do you mean by that?" A woman asked, sounding angered at Vestri's words "Are you really from a Legal Guild?"

"S-Stay away from him..." Dawn warned, trying to stand but the pain in her chest forced her down again "He's lying...to you all..." After she said that, the civilians started to move away from Vestri, but some were also unsure if they could trust Dawn either.

"What should we do?" one woman asked, looking from Dawn to Vestri, a look of determination crossed her face and she walked over to Dawn "Do you need any help?" she knelt down next to Dawn and helped her to her feet.

Seeing this, more and more of the captives started approaching Dawn, standing with her, shocking and angering Vestri "No! What are you idiots doing!?" He questioned, panic clear in his voice "If you side with her, you'll...you'll be as good as dead!"

As he tried to bring them back to his side, something fell from the sky, crashing on top of one of the other carriages "What was that?!" someone cried out "Was that a person!?" Vestri turned to where the person fell and was horrified to realize it was Austri.

"Austri! Austri, what happened to you, brother!?" he yelled, running over to Austri's body "Are you alright, what happened to your target?" Austri's eyes slowly opened and he tried to speak, but the words started getting caught in his throat.

"God...Slayer..." Was the only thing he could manage to say before passing out once again, Vestri then spun around and pointed his gun directly at Dawn, his body shaking in rage and his normally composed nature breaking down.

"Your little boy toy nearly killed my brother!" He yelled, the gun rattling in his hand "You think I'm just gonna let that slide!?" he tried approaching Dawn, but was tackled to the ground by the civilians "Get the hell off of me!"

While this was going on, Dawn had managed to recover "We need to get everyone out of here! Please, help me get these carriages open!" the other civilians agreed and they all ran over to the carriages, using rocks to bust open the doors "Alright, Everyone follow me!"

Dawn lead the out of the canyon, but before they could reach the exit, a portal opened in front of her and Vestri's arm emerged from it "You're not going anywhere!" he pulled the trigger and the gun fired, everyone closed their eyes and braced.

"Not a chance, buddy!" A familiar voice called out, Dawn opened her eyes and saw that Seth had returned and he had the bullet clenched between his teeth "No way I'm letting you hurt them!"

"Seth!" Dawn called, catching his attention "You showed up at the right time! We need to get these people out of here, can you distract him for me?" Seth simply nodded and Dawn lead the people around Vestri, who tried fire again, but Seth blocked the shot once more.

"You tried to kill one of my friends, I'm not gonna let that go" He said, a serious look on his face, he transformed his arm into a pillar once more and punched through the portal, knocking Vestri and all the men holding him into the air "Come on, let's get out of here!" Seth called to the others, gesturing towards the exit.

They began to make their way towards the mouth of the canyon and were able to slip away this time as Vestri struggled to open another portal, and just for good measure, Seth punched one of the canyon walls and caused rock slide that blocked the entrance.

Meanwhile, Ariadne, Rin and Kagome were trying to fight against Garm, but they were unable to land a hit, every time they were getting close to him, he erected a wall of green flames to block them "You shall soon be snuffed, do not resist it" Garm taunted, holding his staff aloft as it spewed more flames.

"We can't get close...this is impossible..." Kagome despaired, feeling her magic power leaving her "What can we do?" Her question was answered by an angered yell from her brother as he leaped towards Garm.

"What the hell kinda flames are these?!" Rin shouted, trying to extinguish the flames, but to no avail, when his water got close, it was evaporated "I'm not gonna give up!" he kept trying to extinguish the flames, but he got too close and was burned, jumping backwards from the flames.

"Don't you see? There is no way for you to defeat me with the way you are now!" Garm laughed, but he was soon silenced as he sensed something "...Heh, it seems we've encountered a setback..." he then opened a portal and dragged Nerissa through it "But know this; we shall return, we have only been delayed, not stopped..."

The two of them disappeared into the portal, and Kagome could have sworn that Nerissa had a forlorn look in her eyes as she looked back at them, the flames died down and the portal vanished: Once things had calmed down, they saw that Dawn was approaching them with a large group of people behind her.

"Everyone! Are you okay?" Dawn called out as they entered the clearing, the other three met Dawn in the middle of the clearing and Kagome hugged her, happy to see she was unharmed "I'm so relieved to see you all unharmed!"

"I see you managed to save the captives" Ariadne observed, looking at the crowd of people behind Dawn, who were all trying to catch their breath "But where's Seth? Is he alright?" as if on cue, Seth entered the clearing with the rest of the captives.

Seth joined the four of them in the middle, panting "Hey guys...did we win?" when Ariadne nodded in reply, a wide grin spread on Seth's face as he flopped onto his back, basking in the sunlight "Phew...now we can take it easy..."

Rin approached him and gently kicked him in the side "Come on, Hard-Head, we can't waste any time getting these guys back, right guys?" he turned back to the girls and saw that they were resting as well "Really? You guys too?"

"I think we've earned a little rest" Ariadne answered, letting out a yawn "There doesn't seem to be any enemies around, why not rest?" Rin conceded when he saw the civilians resting as well...

"Hey guys?" Seth called to the others, a calm tone in his voice.

"Yeah?" The others asked, feeling the exhaustion starting to take over their bodies.

"...I think I broke my arm" Seth calmly informed them, unperturbed by his apparent injury.

"WHAT!?" The four of them screamed, not only them, but the civilians were freaking out as well, scaring the birds out of the trees...

THE END!

A.N: Sorry if the ending was kinda rushed, I was kinda frustrated with my computer, since it froze 4 times in a row and I had to recovery this chapter every time it did...anyway, I hope you enjoy it! And I hope you enjoy the funny little note I ended on!


	9. Chapter 8

Fairy Tail: Bonds of Silver- Chapter 8: The Stage is Set!

While the members of Silver Hippogriff returned the civilians to Espinela, unbeknownst to them, Garm and Nerissa had returned to their own base "This was most unprecedented, those fledglings were able to do more damage than I thought..." Garm thought aloud, walking to a black throne in a dimly lit room.

Nerissa began to walk away, rubbing her wrists as Pictor's handcuffs changed back into paint, as she wandered down the halls –she bumped into a pale young man with dark gray hair, he was dressed in a maroon, long-sleeved shirt and black jeans "Oh, forgive me, Jackson...I wasn't paying attention..."

"No big deal, Neri" The young man answered, brushing himself off "So, How did the job go? You manage to off some do-gooders?" she found herself unable to look him in the eyes, struggling for an answer –this told Jackson everything he needed to know "Ha! You seriously couldn't take anyone out?!" he laughed, throwing his head back "You gotta be willing to get your hands dirty if you want to be part of a Dark Guild! We don't have any room for wimps!"

As Jackson continued to laugh, Nerissa felt something well up inside of her, she quickly leveled her gaze at him and stuck a finger in his face; she opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by Garm calling from the Main Hall "Mr. Gallows, I request your presence..."

Jackson looked down the hall and then looked back at Nerissa, chuckling at the serious look on her face "Looks like you'll have to hold that thought, Neri, seems I've got business to attend to..." he moved past her and started walking down the hall, but not without giving her one last barb "Work on that killing intent, alright?"

Nerissa didn't reply as his laughter faded down the hall, once he was gone, she silently moved down the other direction –disappearing into her room without a word...

Jackson entered the main hall and found Garm sitting on his throne talking to another man, it was a fair-skinned man who's blonde hair seemed to radiate light even in the dark building, he was dressed in a simple white t-shirt and jeans "I knew that girl would fail...we should not have sent someone like her on a mission of such importance!" He hissed, glaring at Garm.

"Mr. Pontius, While your input is appreciated, if I wanted it, I would have _requested_ it..." Garm coolly replied, leaning in his throne: Pontius seemed ready to snap back, but a simple look from Garm was enough to silence him "Now then, the reason I called the two of you here...I have an important mission for you to fulfill."

"Whatever you need, boss, I got it!" Jackson replied, showing no regard for Garm's authority, something that didn't go unnoticed by Pontius "What are you looking at, Bug-brain?"

Pontius simply let out a derisive scoff and shook his head "I'm not surprised a dullard such as yourself has no respect for authority figures, one wonders why Master Garm even bothers to keep you around..." before Jackson could reply, Garm interjected.

"A man with your proclivities has no right to question who I keep around, Bellerophon..." He said, not moving from his reclined pose, even as Bellerophon glared at him, though the look quickly faded "Moving on to the matter at hand: I need the two of you to gather information on Silver Hippogriff and their allies" he then lazily pointed his staff at Jackson "I have no doubt that you should be able to win over these fools, get them to believe you are on their side..."

A wicked smile appeared on Jackson's face as he pointed his thumb at himself "Not a problem, Boss, I'll play 'em like a fiddle!" he boasted, Garm then pointed his staff at Bellerophon.

"And you will provide Jackson with the means to gather information, anything you discover shall be reported back to me..." he said, staring coldly at the two in silence "If there are no questions, then I suggest you two get everything in order..."

Garm finally pushed off of his throne and walked out of the hall, leaving both Jackson and Bellerophon alone "Tch...why must I babysit another? Doesn't the Master trust me to carry out my duties alone?" Bellerophon muttered under his breath.

"Dude, you know I can hear you, right?" Jackson questioned, crossing his arms "Anyways, what did the Boss mean when he said you'd 'provide' me with the means to get info?" Bellerophon was silent for a moment, but then let out a laugh that chilled Jackson to the bone.

Suddenly, insects such as flies, cockroaches, mosquitoes, and silverfish began crawling all over Bellerophon's body "I am a master of gathering information, these bugs will be integral to our plans" he showed off the different bugs to Jackson "I can see whatever the Flies can, the Mosquitoes can gain information about anyone whose blood they drink, the Cockroaches seek out any written information and the Silverfish can intercept any transmissions from Communication's Lacrima."

"Right...that's not creepy..." Jackson joked, backing away from Bellerophon "Which of these goody-goody's should we go after first?" he asked, putting a hand on his chin, rubbing the pink scar that marred it "Might be a good idea to let things cool down with these Hippogriff punks before we go after them."

The insects disappeared in a puff of smoke as Bellerophon pointed at Jackson "That is where you are wrong, Gallows, we should strike while the iron is hot! Those fools won't be expecting us to make a move after a loss like this!"

"Think you might be underestimating them a bit, if they were able to give those guys from Imp Horn a run for their money" Jackson pointed out "Just saying, it might be good to go after one of the other guilds, don't you think?"

"...Very well, if you cannot see the genius of my plan, I suppose I'll follow your lead for now..." Bellerophon conceded, letting out an annoyed sigh as the two of them went their seperate was, making preparations for the mission ahead of them...

The Dark Guilds weren't the only one's making preparations, elsewhere in Joya, the members of both Kobold Fang and Stone Titan were making moves of their own, asking around towns for any pertinent information...

In the town of Zafiro, in the north of Joya, a young girl walked down the streets, her long lilac hair stood out against her lightly tanned skin, she was dressed in a pastel colored skirt and hoodie, though the hoodie seemed too big for her and she had sneakers as well.

Next to her was a white-haired young man, his hair was decorated with blue streaks, his skin had a similar tan to the girl, he wore a light gray t-shirt underneath a black and blue hooded vest, ripped black jeans, and a pair of brown boots, he also had green and black flannel-patterned bandanna wrapped around his neck.

"We've been walking around for quite some time now..." The girl said, an upset look on her face "Perhaps the people don't know anything about these men, what do you think, Julian?" she asked, looking at the boy, who gave her a reassuring smile.

"I wouldn't worry about it, Ella, somebody's bound to know something, we just gotta keep at it!" Julian cheered, pumping his fist into the air, These two are Julian Huntermoon and Stella Auguste, two of the youngest members of Kobold Fang.

The two of them both had the mark of Kobold Fang on their left hand, though Julian's was more on his wrist, The mark was the head of a gnome wearing a triangular hat, a friendly smile on its face, his was dark green, while hers was light green.

While the two of them walked down the street, they were approached by a cloaked figure -from what they could tell, it was a hunched over old woman "I heard you young wizards are looking for something, is there any way I can help you?" Julian and Stella stopped and shared a quick glance between each other, unsure of what to make of this old woman.

She removed her hood, revealing her graying hair, her wrinkled skin and a smile that was missing several teeth, but she had a gentle look in her eyes that set the young people at ease.

"Well, we were trying to find out about some Bandit Guild, you ever heard of a group called Imp Horn, granny?" Julian asked, earning a punch in the arm from Stella "Ow! What was that for?!" he questioned, whipping around to face her.

"Have some tact!" She whispered, then she turned back to the old woman "I'm sorry if he offended you, but he is right, we're trying to find some information about Imp Horn, they seem to be causing some trouble."

The woman was silent for a moment, an uncomfortable amount of silence passed -the two of them were convinced the woman had fallen asleep- she finally looked back up at them "Well, I haven't heard of a Guild by that name, ain't that a shame..."

"That's alright, ma'am" Stella replied, smiling at the woman "Don't worry about it, we'll keep looking" her and Julian started to walk away from the old woman, but while they were walking, the woman started talking again.

"Beware, the Imp is being manipulated by strings from the Dark, the Jackal attacks from the ground, while the Wrym waits on high, but the Lady commands them both...but they are simply puppets, commanded by one even Higher..." she said, they turned back around and saw that the woman had turned to face them and her eyes were rolled in the back of her head "If nothing is done, the Hippogriff will be clipped, the Fang will be broken, and the Titan will be shattered..."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Julian questioned, shuttering at the woman's words "One even Higher? What does that even mean?" he gave Stella a pleading and questioning glance, but she seemed as confused as he did.

The woman began to shake slightly as her eyes returned to normal "Huh? What happened? Where am I?" she asked, looking at Julian and Stella "Oh, how can I help you youngsters?" the two of them simply stared at the old woman, unsure of what to say.

"N-No...that's quite alright..." Stella replied, faking a smile to set the woman at ease "We'll be going on our way now" she grabbed Julian's arm and tugging him down the road, despite his protests, once they were out of the woman's sight, they stopped to assess what had happened.

"What was that about!?" Julian shouted, making sure that they were far enough away from the woman before they continued "Talking about Jackals? Was that some sort of magic?" he turned to face Stella, who seemed to be lost in thought.

As she thought, it all seemed to click with her "Could she have been referring to Dark Guilds?" She deduced, pulling a Light Pen from her pocket and drawing the names of the Dark Guilds in the air "Jackal obviously refers to the Crimson Jackal Guild, Wrym Talon would be the Wrym on High...but who are the Lady and the one even Higher?"

"I don't know, think Master Gaius will know what to do?" Julian asked, leaning against a building "The guy's been all around this country, he should have some sort of clue, you know?" Stella simply nodded and the two of them headed back towards the Guild Hall, the woman's words still lingering in their mind...

Elsewhere in the world, on the Eastern border of Joya, rests the city of Azabache –this town sits next to the eastern portion of El Gran Anillo, the mountains that encircle Joya; And up in these mountains is the Guild Hall of Stone Titan.

Two mages of this guild were down in the town, asking around for any information, one of these mages was a pink haired young man, his hair was quite unkempt, many would could consider him attractive, even the jagged scar running down the right side of his jaw didn't take away from his looks, he was dressed in a long-sleeved chain shirt with a purple handkerchief wrapped around his left bicep, navy blue pants tucked into black boots, and white fingerless gloves –This was Gabriel Wurmharte, a recent recruit to the Guild.

The other was another young man with slightly tanned skin, his lilac hair was cut short, his face had belayed a soft and kind disposition, though the scars that marred his body would give some the opposite impression, he was dressed in a plain cotton shirt worn under an open black vest, as well as tan shorts and open toed sandals –His name was Sorain, a young man of unknown origins.

The two of them started their search in the market of Azabache, asking each of the vendors if they knew anything about what was going on, Sorain approached one of the stalls and waited for the woman running it to finish up helping her customers, once she was done, he greeted her "Hello, I was hoping I could ask you some questions?"

"Of course! I'd love to help, especially someone such as yourself..." The woman replied, an intrigued tone to her voice "What can I help you with, sir?"

"Well, I'm a Wizard from the Stone Titan guild" Sorain informed her, showing her the guild mark on the back of his hand, which was an image of a large stone fist "I've been tasked with gathering information about a Bandit Guild known as Imp Horn, would you have happened to hear about them?"

Suddenly, all of the color drained from the woman's face and she quickly threw down a 'closed' sign on her stall "S-Sorry! I can't help you!" She shouted, running off before Sorain could reply, leaving him confused in the middle of the market.

"That was strange..." Sorain said, leaving the stall and joining Gabriel "Have you had any luck? I tried asking a woman but she just ran...come to think of it, some people seem to be avoiding me..."

Gabriel placed a hand on his chin, looking at the people walking around them, staring at the two of them "It is strange...it seems as if mentioning the name Imp Horn seems to incite fear in the people" he then looked at the surrounding buildings and found a tavern "Hm...perhaps someone in the tavern will know what to do?"

Sorain nodded and the two of them headed towards the tavern, once they entered, they were assaulted by the sounds of rollicking laughter, the two of them pushed their way through the crowds and approached the bar.

"How can I help you boys?" The barkeep asked, he was a muscular, balding man, he then pointed at Sorain with his giant finger "You don't look old enough to drink, need info or something?"

Gabriel answered this time, sitting on a bar stool and leaning on the counter "My friend and I have been looking for some information about a certain Bandit Guild, could you possibly point us in the right direction?" the barkeep was silent for a moment, though Sorain and Gabriel could have sworn he shot a glance at a man sitting next to them.

"No...can't help you..." The barkeep simply answered, walking down the line and ignoring the boys as they tried to grab his attention once again, Sorain and Gabriel looked at each other and decided to question the man next to them.

"I'm sorry to bother you, but would _you_ happen to know about the Imp Horn Guild?" Sorain asked, giving the man a friendly smile "If you could tell us anything you know, we'd be incredibly grateful" The man seemed to ignore them, simply taking a drink from his flagon "Excuse me? Can you hear me?"

"I can hear you, and I'm getting sick of your yapping, Lap Dog..." the man replied, taking another drink "You think you're better than those of us in Bandit Guilds, don't you?" He questioned, turning to face the two of them, the scent of alcohol seemingly permeating his entire body "You think we _wanted_ to be bandits?!"

Gabriel stood up and held his hands in front of him defensively "Now now, let's not get hostile, we're just asking questions..." the man got up as well and grabbed Gabriel by the collar and pulled him close "Please, this doesn't need to come to blows..." 

"No! I'm sick and tired of you Legal Guilds lording over us!" The man slurred, hiccuping in between threats "S'bout time someone knocked you down a couple pegs!" he reared back his fist and was about to punch Gabriel, but suddenly, he was hit in the head by a fast moving stone, knocking him unconscious.

Gabriel and Sorain looked to where the stone came from and saw a dark-skinned blond man standing in the doorway of the tavern, tossing a couple rocks in his hand "Sleep it off..." he simply said, this was Maxim Dumas, another member of Stone Titan "Have you guys found any more information?" the other two let out a defeated sigh and shook their heads "Well, that sucks, guess we'll just have to go off what I found..." he pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and unfolded it "Someone gave me a map to one of the Imp Horn bases, we should be able to get more info from the source..."

"This is a great development...but, um..." Sorain began, looking nervously around the bar, Maxim and Gabriel followed his gaze and saw that the rest of the patrons were glaring angrily at them, some had drawn weapons and others were charging spells "We may need to get out of here..."

"Apologies for the damages!" Gabriel quickly said, dropping some jewels on the counter as he and Sorain slowly backed towards the doorway, once they were close enough, the three of them started running down the street, though their relief was short-lived as they heard the patrons start to chase after them, all the way to the outskirts of the city, even to the beginning of El Gran Anillo...

THE END!

A.N: Sorry if the end was a bit rushed, I was getting kinda tired towards the end here, anyways, I hope you enjoy a chapter focusing on some members of the other Guilds (Still looking for more members for them, by the way, I was going over the members of Kobold Fang, and I think I only have 3 submissions for that...) anyways, hope you enjoy!


	10. Chapter 9

Fairy Tail: Bonds of Silver- Chapter 9: Homeward Bound!

(Real quick, I know I said I'd be making a new My Hero story at some point, and with the way the poll seems to be going, it's gonna be the story about UA Second Years, but that may have to be put on hold for a bit since I have found that a lot of the Quirks I decided on for students and a lot of the plot points have become canon, so I'll have to change quite a bit, apologies if you were looking forward to that...)

While the members of the other guilds were asking around for information about the Imp Horn Guild, back in Turquesa, Emilia approached the jailhouse, she let out a sigh and put on a smile as she entered the building "Well, this is a surprise, what can I do for you, Guild Master?" The sheriff asked, greeting her from his desk.

"I was wondering if I could...talk with the members of Imp Horn that were recently dropped off here, do you think that can be arranged?" She asked, pointing towards the row of cells "They may have some information that could be vital to an investigation of ours."

The sheriff leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms "An investigation, huh?" he questioned, looking down towards the cells "I have no doubt you'll be able to handle yourself if they try anything, but these men are dangerous, are you sure you want to meet with them?"

Emilia gave the sheriff a simple nod, still smiling "I appreciate your concern, Sheriff, I'll be careful around them" the sheriff realized that there was no point arguing this point any further and got out of his chair and gestured for her to follow him.

The two of them walked down the row of cells, ignoring the cat-calls from the various criminals, throwing compliments such as "Dark-haired goddess" or "Pale beauty" towards her, but she simply ignored them as they continued down the hall.

They finally reached the cell with the members of Imp Horn, The sheriff stopped her, putting his arm in front of her "Are you sure you want to do this? These men could get pretty violent..." Emilia silently nodded and the sheriff let out a sigh, he then raised his fist, slamming it against the cell door "Hey! You guys have a visitor!"

There was a rustling sound from the inside of the cell, but Emilia couldn't see in the darkness, the sound of rattling chains and shuffling footsteps grew louder and the leader of the band that Seth had turned over approached from the shadows.

"The hell are you shouting for?" he asked, a look on his face that was a mix of annoyance and tiredness, he then saw Emilia and let out a wry laugh "So, the little brat sent his mommy to deal with his problems, huh?"

Emilia's expression turned serious as she stepped closer to the cell "I suppose that means you've heard of me?" she asked, placing a hand on one of the bars "Then I won't waste time with introductions, I need information about your employers..."

The man approached the front of the cell as well and grabbed the same bar that Emilia was holding on to "And why would I do that, Miss?" he asked, venom underlying each of his words "I already told that white-haired punk; I didn't ask any questions, and I didn't talk to anyone from one of the Merchant Families, so why don't you run along?"

Emilia fell silent, leaving everyone else standing awkwardly, waiting with bated breath for her to say something...suddenly, the bars to the cell turned red-hot and the leader fell backwards, screaming "Perhaps force will change your mind?" Emilia asked, glaring at the man as he scrambled on the floor.

The pain in his hand finally subsided and he stood up, laughing "I should have known not to mess with the 'Lady of the Five Seals!'" he approached the front of the cell again, a cocky smile on his face "People gave you so much praise for turning such simple magic into something impressive!"

Emilia seemed unswayed by the man, continuing to glare at him "I did not come here to hear someone sing my accolades, if you don't give me the information I seek, many innocents may suffer..." her grip tightened on the bar and the sheriff saw that it was beginning to melt, with small droplets of molten metal hitting the stones at Emilia's feet "Do you _truly_ not care what happens to them?"

"...Fine then, I'll tell you what I know, name's Sudri, by the way..." the man said, finally relenting and walking away from the cell door "But there isn't much more that I didn't already tell that punk; I met with a lackey working for one of the Merchant Families, he didn't say which and didn't seem keen on sharing..."

"Where did you meet him?" Emilia asked, releasing the bar before she burned all the way through it "Perhaps it will give us some idea of where he's based?"

Sudri was silent for a moment –though it was a thoughtful silence, as opposed to an indignant one– "...Jaspe, to the South, don't know of many Families that operate out of there, though..." he then turned his attention to the sheriff "What the hell do we get out of this, anyway? Reduced sentence?"

The Sheriff looked at Emilia, who gave a slight nod "Well...you have caused quite a lot of chaos in the countryside...but, I suppose we can work something out" Sudri didn't seem convinced by this, but he seemed content.

"He was looking for a small-time guild to assist with a 'secret project' he kept calling it, he needed us to keep raising hell; some of us would attack the Families cargo, and some of us would help them steal things they needed for this 'project'" Sudri continued, leaning against one of the walls of the cell, as he talked, the other members of Imp Horn that were locked up with him seemed to rouse "We were offered several cases full of Jewels, how could we have said no?"

"I see..." Emilia simply said, a stern look creasing her face "But money is no excuse, you've put people's livelihoods at stake, not to mention their lives..." Her expression then softened as she looked at Sudri "Did that not occur to you?"

Suddenly, another member of Imp Horn ran up to the bars and grabbed Emilia's shoulders and pulled her close "Screw you! Do you even _care_ about us!? We needed this job! Do you know how hard it is for people without magic to make it in this world?!" before he could continue on his diatribe, Sudri grabbed him by the neck and threw him to the back of the cell, slamming hard into the wall and knocking him out cold.

"...Sorry about that..." He apologized, turning back to Emilia "But he's right...some of these idiots can't use magic, they wouldn't make it in a Magic Guild, they didn't have the skills to make it in a Worker Guild, so the only option they had left was a Criminal Guild..." he looked back at the attacker, who was still laying against the wall "Anyway...That's all I can tell you, do whatever you want with that info..."

Emilia backed away from the cell and turned to leave "Thank you, Sudri, I will follow up on the lead you have given us..." she left the cell block with the sheriff behind her, he escorted her out of the building and made sure she was alright "I'll be fine, sheriff" she replied, smiling "I should get back to the guild hall, there is much to do..." she said her goodbyes to the sheriff and went back to the Guild...

...After regaining their strength in the forest, Seth's group noticed that the sun had begun to deep below the horizon "We shouldn't linger much longer, let's get back to Espinela" Dawn said, standing up and dusting herself off, she then glanced at Seth, who was still sprawled out –seemingly ready to fall asleep "Besides _some_ of them may need medical attention..."

"Eh, I think I'll be fine, I've got bones made of metal!" Seth responded, smiling at her, though his smile soon relented when she lightly prodded his arm with her foot "A-Alright...maybe a doctor is a good idea..." he pushed himself off of the ground with his good arm and held the other steady.

Kagome and Ariadne approached the ex-captives and helped the injured to their feet "Don't worry, you'll be home soon!" Kagome reassured them, smiling warmly as she allowed a man to lean on her, the group made one last check that they were safe and began to make their way back to town.

They soon found their way back to the mouth of the forest, where they were surprised to see that a group of villagers preparing themselves to enter the forest armed with pitchforks and other farming equipment "There they are! Charge!" one of them yelled, but they soon skidded to a halt when they recognized that they were the members of Silver Hippogriff "You...you succeeded? We got nervous when you didn't come back..."

"We took a little pit stop, sorry" Ariadne apologized, helping someone rest against a tree "But we gave you our word, and we brought back all of the captives" the mob dropped their weapons as they saw their loved ones exit the forest, both sides ran towards each other as they reunited with family, cheers rang throughout the village and tears of joy were shed.

Even the members of Silver Hippogriff couldn't help themselves, smiling happily at the scene unfolding before them "Feels great to help them out!" Seth cheered, trying to fold his arms behind his head, but a jolt of pain made him double over "...Nearly made me forget about this..."

They were then approached by an old man who they assumed was the Mayor of the village "Truly, there is no way we can thank you, but if there is any way for us to show our gratitude –do not hesitate to tell us" he then noticed Seth's pain and laughed "Ah, seems you got banged up yourselves, allow me to escort you to the doctors."

"Oh, that's nice, Gramps...but I didn't bring along any cash..." Seth apologized, patting his pockets "I don't wanna put you guys out or anything, I think I should be able to keep it together until we get back" despite his protests, the mayor gestured for them to follow.

"Nonsense, don't even worry about paying" He responded, pushing his way through the crowd of people "Its the least we can do" the mages still tried to argue, but the mayor seemed intent on giving them some sort of reward, they were soon lead to the doctor's office "Hello? Is the doctor in?"

"He is, who needs attention?" The receptionist asked, but when she saw the state of the five young people behind the mayor, he instantly understood "I see, who has the most severe wounds?" Seth stepped forward, rubbing the back of his head.

"I, uh, guess that'd be me" He sheepishly answered, the receptionist got out from behind her desk and lead him down the hall, opening a door and gesturing for him to step inside "Thanks, is there anyone else who can look at my friends, though?"

"Well, we have a couple of nurses, but they went to join the mob to save those that got kidnapped" The receptionist answered, causing Seth to laugh, informing her that they had just gotten back from the forest and saved the victims "O-Oh! I hadn't heard! I'll be right back!" she said, a wide grin on her face as she quickly closed the door behind her.

Seth looked around the room and sat on the examination table in the corner, he took off his jacket and examined the bloodstain on his shirt underneath it, running his fingers over the stab wound that Dawn had left " _Can't believe my own guildmate stabbed me...though it did help..._ "

As he thought, the door opened and a short, older man entered "Hello, you must be Mr. Eisenhaupt, what seems to be the problem, young man?" he sat down in a chair and rolled it towards the examination table.

"Well...I think I broke my arm..." Seth answered, poking his left arm and wincing at the pain "My friends and I got in a fight with some Dark Guild members, think you can help?" the doctor poked and prodded at various spots on Seth's arm, sending shocks of pain through his body.

"Hmm...this is odd, your bone feels solid, are you sure it's broken?" The doctor asked, squeezing Seth's risk "Do you have a plate in here?" he was then surprised as liquid metal began pouring out of the wound on Seth's arm "W-What is this?!"

"Sorry for scaring you, I'm a God Slayer..." Seth informed him, smiling: his smile soon faded and his face became serious "...I couldn't let my arm slow me down, I held it together until I won..."

The doctor soon calmed down, clearing his throat "That is quite admirable, young man, but you could have done permanent damage" he then poked Seth's arm one last time "Hmm...the damage isn't that bad, it should be able to heal on it's own, but it will have to remain in a cast for a while –but I will have to do something about that stab wound."

He rolled his chair towards the cabinets and grabbed a medical kit, he rolled back towards Seth and opened the kit on the table, taking out a suture, a bottle of anesthetic and a syringe, he put some of the anesthetic into the syringe and prepped it.

"This shouldn't take too long, sit still please" he said, sticking the syringe into Seth's arm, causing him to breath in sharply "Now we'll just give it a little time to set in..." he began cleaning the wound as they waited for the anesthetic to take effect, once his arm had gone numb the doctor started stitching the wound shut, bandaging it up once that was done...

Once their wounds had been tended to, the team retired to an inn, glad to have a little time to relax "Ah...felt like that mission took forever!" Rin sighed, falling onto one of the beds "Still, you think it's okay that they won't let us pay them?"

"They want to show their gratitude, I suppose" Ariadne laughed, sitting on the other bed "It took all the persuasive abilities Dawn and I had to convince them not to throw us a banquet..." she took out a small box that she had been given as a reward "Though they did insist I had this" she opened the box and was surprised to see a silver spirit key inside, with the image of a rabbit on top "Oh! It's a key!"

She pointed the key forward, but nothing happened "Hm..I guess I don't have enough power left, perhaps we'll have to try again in the morning?" Ariadne asked herself, trying to call upon the spirit once more.

"We should turn in, it _has_ been quite a long day..." Dawn said, turning towards Seth and Rin, handing them a room key "Here, your room's right across the hall" The two of them nodded and left the room, leaving the girls on their own.

"...Dawn, are you okay?" Kagome finally asked as Dawn fell onto one of the beds "You seemed tense since we got back, did something happen?" she joined Dawn on the bed and placed a hand on her shoulder, you can talk to us, you know."

A tense silence filled the room, finally broken when Dawn let out a heavy sigh "It was...that spell...it made me see things" Ariadne and Kagome shared a concerned look as Dawn continued "It put me in a world where everyone in the guild talked about hating me...it felt so real."

Without saying anything, both Ariadne and Kagome hugged her "Don't worry, no one thinks that, it was just the spell!" Kagome reassured her "We're your friends!" the two of them let go of her, all three smiling.

"Thank you...I shouldn't have let it affect me so much" Dawn apologized, wiping her eyes "We should get some sleep" the three girls went to their beds as Dawn turned off the lights, silently grateful that she had friends to pull her out of her thoughts...

THE END!

A.N: Sorry if there wasn't much action in this chapter, I thought it would be nice to have a little bit of a wind-down after all of the fighting, hope you enjoy!


	11. Chapter 10

Fairy Tail: Bonds of Silver- Chapter 10: No Rest for the Wicked!

(Sorry for not posting yesterday, it was one of those days where I couldn't focus, so I decided to postpone it for a day so I could get my ideas in order)

Early in the morning, Seth's group decided it was finally time for them to head back to Turquesa, they gathered in the lobby of the inn to make sure that they had everything together before they left "It feels kinda weird to not be on a mission, y'know?" Seth asked, rubbing the back of his head with his unbroken arm "Think we should take another job when we get back?"

"Don't you think we should take a break? Especially you?" Dawn countered, pointing at his broken arm "Besides, it's not like all of the jobs will be taken while we recover" Seth stared down at his cast for a moment, not replying.

"...Yeah, guess you're right" He finally said after a while "But the doctor said the break wasn't even that bad, so an easy job shouldn't hurt, right?" he looked up at his friends and realized they were all looking at him, all of them had looks of exasperation on their faces "W-What?"

Rin was the first to reply, letting out an annoyed sigh "Really? You think we're gonna let you go on _any_ jobs when you're injured?" they walked out of the inn and were surprised to see that the people were going about their days like normal "Like it never happened, huh?"

"It's nice!" Kagome replied, smiling brightly "They've been so fearful, and now they don't have to worry anymore" While they talked, they were approached by the mayor "Oh, hello! Did you need something?"

The mayor let out a raspy laugh "No, You've done enough for us!" he then gestured towards a man approaching him from behind "We have a present for you all! Each of us put some money together for a reward!" the man handed the mayor a briefcase "It isn't much, but we humbly ask that you accept it."

He handed the briefcase to Ariadne, she opened it and was surprised by the amount of Jewels inside "Are you sure about this? The key was enough a reward" The mayor simply nodded, she looked at the briefcase once again and closed it, smiling at the mayor "Very well, thank you for your kindness"

They said their goodbyes to the people of Espinela and made their way to the train station, as they walked, Seth noticed that Ariadne was staring at her new key "Gonna try summoning it again?"

"I was thinking about it..." She replied, turning the key over in her hands "But it may be best to wait until we get outside the town, just in case this goes wrong..." an awkward silence filled the air as the others looked at each other, concerned.

"Do summonings...usually go wrong?" Dawn asked, looking at the key "I admit, I don't know much about Celestial Spirit Magic" they soon reached the edge of town and stopped, waiting for Ariadne to cast the spell "This spirit should be a rabbit, right?" a small blush crossed her face as she imagined a large, fluffy white rabbit, with her resting on its stomach " _It sounds...adorable..._ "

"It should be, but I don't know how this will appear, Celestial Spirits choose their own forms" Ariadne clarified, she then thrust the key forward and focused her magic "You may want to stand back, I don't know how this will turn out..." a magic circle then appeared at the tip of the key " _ **Open! Gate of the Hare! Lepus!**_ " the group was blinded by the sudden flash of light, shielding their eyes from it.

"Hello~!" A cheerful voice called, once the light had cleared, they were surprised to see that a beautiful, young woman had appeared: she had long, strawberry blond hair that reached the small of her back, hiding a small white tail, her head was topped with two rabbit ears, she was dressed in a tight, one-piece bodice and fishnet stockings, as well as a pair of high-heels "Stop staring, you're making me blush!" She joked, laughing at the surprised faces of the young mages.

" _This isn't what I imagined at all..._ " Dawn thought as her mental image of the huge rabbit shattered, She cleared her throat and straightened herself "W-Well, I'm glad that everything went according to plan, so, what sort of Magic do you use?"

Lepus didn't immediately reply, instead laughing and pointing at something "I'll show you, but shouldn't those boys pick their jaws off the ground first?" she asked, the girls turned to look at Seth and Rin, who were both staring at Lepus, awestruck looks on both of their faces, they tried to reply –but all that escaped their mouths was just incoherent babbling "If you like what you see, you're _really_ gonna like this!"

A magic circle appeared under Lepus and she suddenly split into two exact copies of herself, causing both of the boys to fall backwards, as both of the Lepus' laughed at their reactions, Ariadne approached them "It's nice to meet you, Lepus, I was the one who summoned you, My name is Ariadne Durrell."

Ariadne held out her hand and shook hands with Lepus "Nice to meet you too! I guess you wanna make a contract?" Ariadne simply nodded in reply "Awesome! I'm usually free on Mondays and Wednesdays!"

"That works for me, I look forward to working together in the future" Ariadne said, she glanced back at Seth and Rin, who finally recovered from their initial shock "And I have a feeling I won't be the only one..."

Dawn approached the two and slapped the two of them, bringing them out of their stupor "Glad you two could join us..." She let out an annoyed sigh as the two of them bowed and apologized "We should get going, the train to Turquesa should be arriving soon."

They all made their way to the train station as Ariadne dismissed Lepus, while they walked, Rin elbowed Seth in the ribs "That was pretty smooth, Hard-Head, think you still got some drool on your chin."

"Yeah? If I remember correctly, I wasn't the only one looking at her!" Seth countered, lightly punching Rin on the arm, the two of them looked at each other and laughed "You shoulda seen the look on your face! Looked like your eyes were gonna pop out!"

"Says the guy who's jaw hit the ground!" Rin countered, doubling over as he laughed, the girls simply looked on, Kagome and Ariadne smiled, but Dawn could only sigh.

"It's nice to see them finally getting along!...even if they are still making fun of each other..." Kagome said, watching as the two boys continued poking fun at each other.

"The day's just beginning, I'm sure they'll be back to butting heads by the afternoon" Ariadne joked, crossing her arms in front of her and smiling "It just wouldn't be the same if they weren't, would it?" she then looked at Dawn, noticing a small smile on her face "Wouldn't you agree?"

"I suppose so" Dawn simply answered, chuckling slightly, before she could say anything else –the loud whistle of an approaching train cut through the air as it roared into the station, it slowed to a stop and the passengers exited "Come on, we should get on before it leaves."

They picked up what little luggage they had brought with them and got on the train, awkwardly moving through the crowds of people, they finally found a seat and settled in for the journey ahead of them...

...The train ride seemed to take longer than they remembered as they finally arrived at the station in Turquesa "Man, it feels like it's been forever since we've been home!" Seth cheered, stepping off of the train and stretching out, wincing at the pain shooting through his arm.

"Don't worry, Hard-Head, you'll be seeing a lot of home while you recover" Rin jabbed, walking past Seth, flashing him a cocky smile as he did "We'll be sure to do plenty of jobs for you, though..."

"Well, he's not entirely wrong, Seth" Kagome said, putting her hand on his shoulder "You should probably take a break before doing any more jobs" Seth's head dropped slightly and his shoulder's slumped "Don't worry, I'm sure it won't take that long!" she reassured him as they went back to the Guild Hall.

Once they made it back to the hall, a raucous cheer broke out "Welcome back!" Abel called, waving at them from behind the bar, they returned her wave and started approaching the bar, but before they could make it, they were blindsided by two figures.

One was a tall woman with an athletic body, she had long, bright red hair and intense teal eyes, she wore a black crop top that showed off her body and khaki shorts, as well as boots –This was Calista Nix, more commonly known to her friends as Callie "Hey! Haven't seen you guys in forever! Where the hell have you been?!" she asked, throwing both of her arms around Seth and Rin's shoulders, pulling them in close.

The other was a young man with dark skin around the same height as Callie, with dark purple hair pulled into a ponytail, he had a lean and muscular build, his bright amber eyes were locked Dawn and Ariadne, he was dressed in a gray muscle shirt and baggy pants, tucked into combat boots –This man was simply known as Rai, who had joined the Guild to try and regain his lost memory "You know, It's been quite boring around here without you beauties to brighten it up, what would you say to a date?"

"Hello, Rai, what is this? Attempt #85?" Ariadne asked, the casual tone in her voice piercing straight through Rai as she moved passed him.

"Are you sure? I'm nearly certain he's hit triple digits by now..." Dawn followed up, dealing another blow to Rai as she followed Ariadne to the bar, Rai watched the two of them walk away, sulking as Kagome patted him on the back.

"It'll work eventually Rai, I'm sure of it..." She said, trying to bolster his spirit, Rai seemed to quickly spring back up, his usual enthusiasm back on his face.

He gave her a thumbs up and smiled "I won't let a little slip up like this get in the way, don't worry about me!" the two of them turned to Seth and Rin, who were still in a headlock by Callie "Think she'll get the story out of them before they pass out?"

"Callie...need air..." Seth choked out, trying to pull her arm off of his neck, she finally relented and let them go "Phew...thought I wasn't gonna make it for a second there..." he rubbed his neck as they all walked towards the bar.

"So, you gonna tell me where you've been or what?" Callie asked, seemingly unaware of what she had just put the boys through, she then gestured towards Seth's arm "You got pretty banged up, what happened out there?"

Seth looked at the cast and remembered the fight as Abel set some drinks in front of them "Well...we got into a fight with some kidnappers, one of them could harden his body and I kinda...shattered my arm punching him out" he told Callie, nearly making her choke on her drink.

Once she had calmed down, she began laughing "Seriously?! You punch a guy so hard that you broke your arm!? That's awesome!" she took another swig from her glass "Looks like you'll be out of commission for a little while."

"Sigh...why does everyone keep reminding me about that?" Seth asked, dropping his head in his hands "Anyway, have you guys been up to anything?" he asked, taking a drink.

"It's been boring as hell" Callie replied, letting out an annoyed sigh "Master Emilia had us going around town, asking about those Imp Horn jerks" she then finished off her drink and slammed it on the counter top "Nobody around her had even heard of them!"

"Well, Master Emilia found some information on her own, so perhaps things will get clearer now?" Abel said, refilling Callie's glass "She said something about Jaspe, right?"

Hearing this, a wide smile crossed Seth's face, reinvigorated by this information "Jaspe, huh? Let's head out there right now!" He cheered, pumping his fist into the air "Come on! We can't let this lead get away from us!"

Seth tried to run out, but he started slowing down, slumping on the ground "This is the second time I had to do this to you..." Abel muttered, face-palming "You should focus on healing, anyway" Callie walked over to Seth and brought him back to the bar, putting him back on the stool, causing him to fall face-first onto the counter...

A week had passed since the incident in Espinela, Seth's arm had yet to heal, though he was making good progress, he was still sitting at the bar in the guild hall, slumped on the counter "Ugh...I didn't think it would take this long to heal..."

"It shouldn't be much longer, waiting a little more won't kill you" Abel said, smiling as she cleaned a glass "If you're looking for something to do, why not help me back here?" Seth considered her offer, but as he thought, he saw Rai standing near the door with a piece of paper in his hand, and another member of the guild was standing next to him.

He was a young man that was shorter than Rai, he had pale blonde hair and soft lavender eyes, his face made him look younger than he actually was, the freckles that dotted it didn't help either, he was wearing a poncho with dark gray, red, and white patterns covering a white t-shirt and red pants; This was Caspian Maponus, a young man that specialized in a form of healing magic, focusing on healing diseases from the blood.

"Hold that thought, Abel, I gotta see what's going on with them!" Seth said, jumping off of the stool and running over to Rai and Caspian, but before he left, he could have sworn he heard Abel curse under her breath "Hey guys! What's up?"

"Well, nothing much, The Master's just making me play babysitter for the good doctor here" Rai joked, jerking his thumb towards Caspian "Why, you wanna come along?" Seth nodded vigorously, making Rai laugh "Sure, I think we can squeeze you in!"

"I'm sure that Master Emilia is just being overprotective" Caspian said, his soft voice nearly drowned out by the noise of the guild "I was tasked with helping a healer cure a disease that has been spreading through their village, she assigned Rai to come along for protection."

"Aren't you forgetting something, Cas?" A familiar voice called, the three turned to face Callie, who was quickly approaching them "I was assigned to help you out too, you weren't thinking of leaving without me, right?"

Caspian laughed, coughing slightly as he did "Of course not, even if we did, you would have chased us down" he then turned to Seth "We should be fine with just the three of us, you don't need to come along.

"I need to get out of here, If I sit around any longer, I think I'll explode!" Seth replied, running his hands through his hair "You gotta let me come with!"

Caspian realized there was no changing Seth's mind, nodding in agreement "Alright, one more wouldn't hurt" Seth cheered, pumping his fists "We have a carriage waiting outside, if you have anything you want to bring along, you should grab it now."

Seth quickly ran off to his room, packing a suitcase and running back down the stairs, joining Rai's group as they left the Guild...

THE END.

A.N: Sorry again for postponing, I had a bit of a block yesterday, but anyway, hope you enjoy! Also, quick question, would you guys like to see more "Downtime" chapters? Like things going on around the guild in between missions? Or would you like a bigger focus on action?


	12. Chapter 11

Fairy Tail: Bonds of Silver- Chapter 11: A Dark Revelation!

(Hey, real quick, I kept forgetting to say who made certain characters and I apologize for that, so here we go! Caspian Maponus was Submitted by Starblitz1312, Rai was submitted by LifeIsBeautiful17, and Callie Nix was submitted by CandidSniper)

Back in Turquesa, Dawn had just returned from a short mission alongside Kagome, Rin, and Ariadne, they made their way back to the guild hall "Well...that wasn't as glamorous as I had hoped, but I suppose that aristocrat will be grateful to have his pets back..."

"Speak for yourself..." Rin complained, he was covered from nearly head-to-toe in small scratches "Those little demons may have deserved to remain lost" as he talked, Kagome had been helping him apply ointment to some of the scratches, causing him to his in pain.

"Sorry, sorry!" she apologized, taking a roll of bandages from her pack and wrapping them around Rin's arms "We'll have to get these looked at, maybe Caspian will be able to heal them?" they finally reached the guild hall and swung open the doors, moving out of the way as two younger guild members ran past them, excited to finally be allowed to take a mission on their own.

"Sorry about that, didn't see you there!" One of them called back, she was a dark-skinned girl with a black afro, pulled into two small pigtails "Razi, wait up!"

"It's nice to see everyone is in such high spirits" Ariadne said, watching the two run off into the distance "I'm quite surprised Master Emilia let them go on their own, though" the four of them sat at the bar, greeting Abel as she approached.

"Hey guys!, Didn't expect you to come back so soon, how'd the mission go?" She asked, setting some glasses in front of them, when there was no reply, she saw the look of shock and horror in their eyes "Oh...was it that bad?"

"I'm gonna be having nightmares about those things" Rin replied, putting his head in his hands "The teeth...the claws..."

"The client didn't tell us that they may have been a bit jumpy when we found them, Rin kinda found it out the hard way" Kagome informed her, putting her hand on her brother's shoulder "We finally managed to bring them home, though."

"I hate to say this, but we might have had an easier time with Hard-Head there –at the very least, we could have used him as bait..." Rin said, imagining them dangling Seth in front of several beasts to lead them away, he then noticed something was off –looking around the guild hall "Where is he, by the way? Thought he'd be here sulking?"

Abel's eye's suddenly went wide and she started cleaning a random glass, not meeting any of the eyes that were now looking at her, whistling as she did "Uhhh...I-I think he's upstairs in his room, he's been up there since you guys got back last week..."

"Are you sure? That doesn't sound like him..." Ariadne questioned, looking towards the stairs to the second floor "If that's true, perhaps we should do something to cheer him up?" she tried to get off of her stool, but Abel suddenly stopped her.

"Wait! He told me he didn't want any visitors...yeah..." She said, trying to keep a straight face "He should be down later though."

Dawn looked from the stairs, back to Abel, and then back to the stairs "Abel...are you hiding something from us?" the momentary look of panic on Abel's face told her all she needed to know "Did he go on a mission, even with his injury?" she asked, giving a serious gaze that pierced right through Abel.

Abel refused to look Dawn in the eyes, though she could still feel her eyes boring into her "No, he wouldn't do that..." She lied, though she was certain that Dawn didn't believe her "I mean, you explicitly told him to take it easy" the pressure continued to build and she finally broke "Alright...he went on a mission with Caspian..."

"Seriously?" Dawn asked, sighing exasperatedly and pinching the bridge of her nose "Couldn't he just wait until he healed?" she looked back at Abel, who was finally looking at her "When did they leave? We might be able to convince him to come back."

"It wasn't that long ago, you might be able to catch up with him if you hurry" Abel responded, rubbing the back of her head "Sorry for lying, I knew you'd be upset if I told you he left" she then took a slip of paper out from behind the bar and placed it on top "They went to help a village heal a disease."

"Thank you, Abel, I'm sorry if I came off a little strong there" Dawn apologized, standing up from her bar stool, she started to walk away from the bar –before she could though, she noticed Emilia coming down from the second from the second floor, a serious look on her face " _Is something on her mind?_ "

Emilia stopped before she got to the bottom of the stairs and seemed to be readying herself, she then put on a smile and kept going; finally reaching the bottom, once the guild members noticed her, they cheered and raised their glasses towards her.

"Hello, everyone! I'm glad to see that you're all well" She greeted, waving at all of her subordinates, when the chatter of the guild quieted down, she looked over at Dawn, the serious look returning to her face; without saying a word, Dawn approached her "Dawn, something important has come up, can I speak with you in my office?"

"Of course, mother" Dawn agreed, nodding at Emilia, who gestured for her to follow, Dawn said goodbye to her friends and followed Emilia back upstairs; they entered her office and Dawn closed the door behind her "What did you want to talk about?"

Emilia sat behind her desk, taking a moment to contemplate what she was about to say "I managed to get some information out of the members of Imp Horn that Seth had turned in earlier, they informed me that they met with the servant of one of the Families in Jaspe –the town in the south– I would like you to go there and investigate, some mages from the other guilds will be joining you as well, can you do this?"

"Other guilds will be showing up? Is it really that important that we need to involve other Guilds?" Dawn asked, approaching the desk "If it's just an investigation, shouldn't we be able to handle this on our own?" Emilia leaned forward in her chair, resting her elbows on top of it and folding her hands in front of her mouth.

"We have reason to believe that Imp Horn may be based out of Jaspe, or at least have one base there" Emilia informed her "Even if they aren't there, the guild masters agreed that this may be a necessary precaution."

Dawn took a moment to process what she had been told, once Emilia had finished debriefing her, she nodded "Alright, I'll do it, when do you need us to set out?" Emilia stood up from her desk and walked over to Dawn, once she was in front of her, she placed a hand on her shoulder, smiling warmly at her.

"There are still some things I need to set up with the other Guild leaders, so you won't set out right away" She said, pulling her hand back and walking back to her desk, opening one of the drawers and pulling out a stack of papers "Here's all of the information we have so far, if you'd like to look it over" she placed the papers on the desk and pushed them to the other side "I'll let you know when we come to an agreement, alright?"

"Alright, I'll see if I can recruit some others to help out" Dawn said, grabbing the papers and looking them over, she then turned to leave, but was stopped by Emilia.

"Oh, and I heard about your exploits in Espinela..." She started, Dawn turned around and saw that she was smiling –a genuine one this time, not the one she put on in front of the guild– "I'm proud of you, keep up the good work."

Dawn was a bit taken aback by the praise, but she was nonetheless happy "Th-Thank you, Mother..." She quickly stated, opening the door and stepping out, leaving Emilia alone at her desk.

Emilia sat in silence for a couple of minutes, before turning towards what seemed like an empty corner of the room "There's no need to hide anymore, I knew you were there the whole time..." She said, suddenly, a magic circle appeared on the floor.

Slowly, a man began manifesting from the air, he was a tall man and despite his age, he was quite muscular, he had a black vest on that he wore unbuttoned, showing off his chest and abs –as well as the Kobold Fang guild mark on his left pec– he had on a pair of dark brown pants and gray boots, he also wore a black cloak that covered his whole body.

He brushed his dulled red hair out of his face and placed his hand on his chin "I didn't know you had a kid, who's the lucky man?" he asked, this was Gaius Redmane, leader of Kobold Fang and a skilled practitioner of Invisibility Magic.

"She isn't my actual daughter, the guild took her in when she was a baby, someone had left her on our door step" Emilia explained, smiling as she remembered finding Dawn outside of the guild, before she had even became the Guild Master "I took it upon myself to raise her...but that's beside the point, to what do I owe this visit?"

Gaius pushed off the wall he was leaning against and took a seat on the other side of Emilia's desk "Well, I figured you'd rather have me deliver this instead of Tyr lumbering through the city, I have a sinking suspicion the civilians wouldn't take a Giant showing up lightly..."

Emilia chuckled at the mental image of Tyr trying to calm down the panicking citizens of Turquesa "That's true, I suppose, what did you want to deliver?" Gaius took something out of a pocket on the inside of his cloak, it was a thick, leather-bound tome.

He dropped the tome onto the desk with a loud thud and kicking up some dust from it "We took this from a passing band of Imp Horn goons" He explained, opening the tome and turning it to face Emilia, she examined the pages of the book, surprised by the contents of it.

"Is this a...Sales Ledger?" she asked, reading off the items on the list, which ranged from weapons to things like alcohol "What does this mean? Have they branched into arms dealing?"

Suddenly, Gaius' face turned serious, pointing at the book "Check the next page..." Emilia did as he said and flipped to the next page, shocked to see that it was a list of names "Seems like this has been going on for quite some time, the 'shipment' your guild halted only seems to be one part of something bigger" he said, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.

Emilia continued to read names from the book, next to each name was the word 'sold' –except for several names towards the bottom of the list, which had the word 'pending' written next to them "...These names...they seem to be from a sale that hasn't happened yet" She said, pointing them out to Gaius "These poor people may still be held at their base, we should pass this along to the others before they set out, they may be able to save them."

"Perhaps, but if they are still being held there, we'll have to proceed cautiously, they may try to use them for collateral" Gaius planned, closing his eyes as he thought "This certainly changes things..." he then stood from his seat and walked to the window, opening it "Well, I believe that's everything, let's be sure to keep each other updated, just in case anything changes" he turned invisible once again and Emilia was certain he was gone when the window closed on it's own, leaving her with only her troubled thoughts...

Meanwhile, Seth's group arrived at the village, stepping out of the Magic Vehicle, Seth, Rai and Caspian fell out of the back, nauseous and dizzy "Hey! We made it here in record time!" Callie cheered from the front of the vehicle, she looked back at the boys, who were sprawled out on the ground, spirals in their eyes "Tch, what's the problem? Too fast for you old ladies?!" she scoffed, yanking them off the ground.

The mood soon changed as they saw the state of the village in front of them, the ground itself seemed to be sick: The grass was brown and dying, any flowers that had attempted to grow were wilting, even the trees were gnarled and leafless.

"This...is worse than I thought..." Caspian murmured, in awe of the devastation around them, as they looked on, a figure began slowly approaching them; they saw it was a withered old man, shakily walking towards them "Hello sir, do you need assistance?"

"That's alright, young man, Doctor Kran has already given me treatment!" The old man replied, he then pointed towards a church "I saw you arrive and thought you'd be here to help out Doctor Kran, he should still be at the church."

"Thank you, we'll head over there right away" Caspian replied, nodding at the man, the group took his advice and headed towards the church, they opened the door and were shocked to see what seemed to be the entirety of the village inside it "Oh my...we have to do something..."

Seth pointed out someone at the back of the church; a man dressed in a white robe and had a surgical mask over his mouth "Looks like that's the Doctor, let's see if needs any help" they approached him and Seth called out "Hey, you Doctor Kran?"

The doctor turned his attention from his patient and looked at the group "Yes, I am, I assume you're here to assist?" he asked, when they nodded, he gestured for them to follow him, he lead them to a back room where they saw a map laid out on a table "We've narrowed down the source of this infection to several locations, I'd like you to search these locations and see if there is anything you can do to stop it."

"Alright, We'll divide and conquer" Rai said, getting the other's attention "Cas, since you're not that suited to fighting, it would be better for you to stay here and help out, We'll check out these sights and see what's going on, alright?"

"That's fine by me, I was planning on helping out here anyway" Caspian replied, he was about to go back out to the main hall, but he stopped in the doorway "Come back if you're hurt, we don't want any more injuries."

Seth knew that was directed towards him, but decided not to point it out "Alright, we'll head out right away, give us a heads up if anything happens" Caspian nodded as he headed towards the main hall and the others started planning what they should do...

THE END!

A.N: Again, sorry for forgetting to credit those who made what characters, I kept forgetting, anyway, hope you all enjoy!


	13. Chapter 12

Fairy Tail: Bonds of Silver- Chapter 12: Tracking the Source!

(Hey, Real quick, this one may be a bit shorter than normal, since I have some things to take care of IRL, but I didn't want to leave you guys with nothing, hope you still enjoy!)

Seth's group had made final preparations before setting out to the locations Doctor Kran had pointed out to them "Alright, that should be everything..." Rai said, looking over the map once again "The map Dr. Kran gave us shows four points scattered around the outskirts of the village, this might go smoother if we split up and check out these three points on our own and rendezvous at the fourth, what do you two think?"

"How about we make it a competition?" Callie offered, smirking cockily as she cracked her knuckles "The first one to get to the last point gets the job reward from the other two, sound good?" she looked at Seth and Rai, the former of which seemed excited and the latter was slightly exasperated.

"While I'm not one to refuse a lady's request, I feel now isn't the time to be fooling around like this..." Rai pointed out, gesturing towards the people lying on the ground "It wouldn't benefit these people if we expend all of our energy rushing off like that."

Seth leaned over and nudged Rai "What's the problem? Afraid you're gonna lose your pay?" he taunted, continually jabbing his elbow, trying to get a rise out of him.

Rai looked at Seth and let out an annoyed sigh, before returning Callie's smirk "Very well, but I don't want to hear any complaining when you two have to pay me" Seth and Callie cheered at Rai's compliance, the three of them walked outside and stood in a line "To make it fair, we'll all leave on the count of three."

"1..." Callie started as a purple magic circle appeared under her feet and she got in a running stance.

"2..." Seth followed, a gray circle spreading on his back as he focused his magic.

"3!" Rai finished, as electricity began arcing around his body " _ **Lightning Blitz!**_ " he was suddenly gone in the blink of an eye, leaving behind sparks in the air and scorch marks on the ground, stunning his two opponents.

"No way I'm getting left behind!" Seth roared as two steel wings began to emerge from the circles on his back " _ **Iron God's Forge!: Flugel des Erzengels!**_ " ( _Wings of the Archangel)_ he kicked off of the ground and shot into the air, flying off into the distance.

Before she left, Callie glanced back at the church to see Caspian leaning out of the door, watching them leave "I know you told us to be careful, but that goes double for you, Cas: Call us back if anything happens, alright?"

Cas waved off her statement, a placid smile on his face "Don't worry, I've placed spells on my self to protect against infections, everything should be fine" he told her, turning back to the church "With Dr. Kran's help, this shouldn't be a problem!"

Caspian disappeared into the church and the door thumped closed behind him, leaving Callie alone "...The infection isn't what I'm worried about..." She thought, she shook those thoughts from her head and she went back to focusing her magic "Whatever, I can't afford to fall behind! _**Weight Change!**_ "

She suddenly felt lighter on her feet, as if gravity had less of an effect on her "Enjoy your lead while it lasts, boys!" she got a running start and pushed off, leaping high into the air, flying great distances with simple jumps...

Back in the Church, Cas looked around and saw the people laid out around him "Now...what can I do to help them?" as he thought, he was approached by Dr. Kran "Oh! How rude of me, everything has been happening so fast, we haven't had time for proper introductions: I'm Caspian Maponus, I wish we could have met in a less...dire situation."

"I unfortunately have to agree, Mr. Maponus" Dr. Kran replied, sadly examining his surroundings "But if there are to be introductions, My name is Doctor Aramis Kran" He then gestured his arm to the patients "We've wasted enough time, let's get to treating these patients, do you have any spells to slow the progress of this plague?"

Caspian didn't reply and simply approached one patients; a woman, trying to soothe a young boy that was crying over her "It's okay, mommy will be alright..." she said, she then noticed Caspian, pointing him out to her son "See, here comes the healer now."

He got to his knees and began focusing his magic " _ **Cleanse!**_ " He said as a soothing light appeared from his hands, he tried to rid the woman's body of the disease, but something felt off... " _What is this?_ " the light faded from his hands, the young boy looked up at him, with fearful hope in his eyes "Phew...it'll take a while for the magic to take effect, just try to rest until then, alright?"

"Of course...thank you, young man..." The woman wheezed, laying back down and closing her eyes, Caspian feared he was too late, but the woman finally spoke, her voice cracking slightly "Please...save our village..."

Caspian was silent, the weight of the circumstances now heavy on his shoulders "...I will, now please, just rest" he left before he was sure that the woman was asleep, joining Doctor Kran in assisting another patient "... _Something about this infection is strange..._ "

"Something on your mind, Mr. Maponus?" Doctor Kran asked, not looking up from his patient "Did you discover something?" Caspian was brought out of his thoughts and was shocked to see the eerie calm look on Doctor Kran's face.

"...Well, it may be nothing...but it seems like this disease is fighting against my magic..." Caspian told him, crossing his arms in thought "Perhaps I'll just have to try harder, it may just be in my head" he pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind and began helping Kran with more patients.

"I see...well, if all goes well, your friends will find a way to put a stop to this" Doctor Kran said, keeping his voice calm "In the meantime, let's see what we can do to ease these people's suffering..." Caspian silently nodded as he added his magic to Kran's...

Elsewhere, Seth soared effortlessly through the air, his wings cutting the wind " _Alright, I should be getting close to the spot...it was around here, right?_ " he looked down at the ground and noticed a river winding through the forest below, seemingly coming from a nearby cave " _Bingo! That's gotta be it!_ "

He flew closer to the cave and landed on top of it, examining the forest around him "Hmm...it doesn't seem like there's anything around here, did I go to the wrong place?" Seth asked himself, scanning the horizon "Can't waste too much time here, or I'm gonna lose!"

He was about to take off once again, but he noticed movement below him before he could leave, he looked down at the forest floor and saw several hooded figures walking towards the cave, Seth dropped down low to make sure he wasn't noticed " _Wait...those cloaks look familiar...could they be part of the same group from Espinela?_ "

"I was certain there was something flying towards here..." One of the figures said, looking up towards the sky, causing Seth to press himself into the cave even more, almost as if he was trying to merge with the stones themselves...

"Perhaps they ran into the cave, let's check it out!" another figure spoke, pointing towards the mouth of the cave, the others nodded and they ran into the cave, leaving Seth alone as they disappeared into the darkness, but he heard them call out "We must not them discover our purpose!"

" _Your purpose huh? So, what are you doing out here?_ " Seth asked himself, dropping down from the top of the cave when he was certain that the figures were gone " _Gotta figure out what they're doing and get to the rendezvous!_ "

He ran into the cave, keeping close to the walls in order to stay hidden, following the sound of voices as he went...

Meanwhile, Rai had reached his destination, a cliff overlooking a large lake " _Hmm...there's no one here...perhaps I arrived too late?_ " Rai asked himself, looking at the lake below him, he watched as a deer approached the lake and took a drink " _Has anyone been here? Maybe the doctor was wrong?_ "

He then heard a commotion below him, he looked down to see that the deer was now sprawled out on the ground, it's legs flailing in the air "What's going on?!" Rai yelled, leaping down from the cliff, once he landed, he calmly approached the deer, holding his hands in front of him "Easy girl, I'm not here to hurt you..."

Once the deer seemed to calm down, Rai turned his attention to the water, scooped some into his hands and took a slight sip, spitting it out when a sour taste assaulted his senses "Someone put something in this water..." he then reached into a pouch on his hip and pulled out a bottle "I should bring a sample back to the Doctor, maybe it's connected?"

He looked back at the deer and noticed that it's breathing was quite shallow and it's eyes were wide and panicked "Don't worry, girl, there should be something around here to help you..." he looked around the forest, he soon found a patch of herbs "...Hmm, I seem to remember Caspian showing us these...maybe they'll work?" he picked some of the herbs and brought them back to the deer, who seemed to be still clinging to life "Here girl, try these..."

The deer sniffed at the herbs and began to weakly bite at the herbs, when she had eaten them, Rai heard her begin to retch "Oh no...did I mess up?!" Rai questioned, slightly panicking, the deer stood up and soon vomited, running off once it was done, looking back at Rai one last time before it vanished into the woods "Well...that was unexpected, but glad I could help, I suppose" he stood up and dusted himself off, taking the flask off of his belt and looking at the water in it "Did someone poison the water around here?"

He tried to push the thoughts to the back of his mind and decided to head to the rendezvous, but they kept returning as he made his way through the forest...

Callie soon arrived at the location marked on the map and she was shocked to find that it was the ruins of a town similar to the one they arrived in "What the hell? Did this place get hit too?" she started looking around the remains of the buildings, making sure to do it quietly "Could this place have been infected first?"

She continued picking her way through the devastation, eventually arriving at what seemed to be an inn "Wonder if anything got left behind?" She asked, she then focused her magic in the area around her " _ **Gravity Field!**_ " the debris began to float around her, she looked around the floating objects and saw what looked like a journal "What's this?" She asked, grabbing the book.

She deactivated her magic and simply let the rest of the debris fall back to the ground as she started leafing through the journal "...Not much in here...whoever wrote this was kinda boring..." she continued to read through, sitting on a nearby boulder, suddenly, she found an entry that caught her interest.

" **Day 10, I've been here for a little over a week, they said we can't leave this village –something about a quarantine? I don't understand though, I feel perfectly fine...but these mages in white robes won't let any of us leave...** " The entry read, slightly disturbing Callie, she took a deep breath and continued on " **Day 11, They keep talking about how the sickness is spreading...people keep disappearing...what if I'm going to get sick next? These White Robes keep taking those they say have the sickness...I need to get** **out of here** " A chill ran through Callie's body as she kept reading " **Day 12, I'm so sorry, dear, if you ever find this note, know that I love you, the White Robes say I'm sick and they're going to come for me...I'm going to try and run for it, I hope I can make it back to see your lovely fa...** "

The entry cut off and devolved into unintelligible scribbles, as if he was surprised by someone, and the rest of the pages were blank "What the hell happened here? What the hell is gonna happen to the others?!" Callie questioned, flipping through the pages again, but there wasn't any pertinent information in it "Dammit...Maybe there'll be something at that last location?"

She looked off at the horizon and was surprised to see a figure in a white robe watching her from the forest "Hey! Are you one of the bastards that did this?!" she called, startling the figure and causing them to run "I'm not gonna let you get away!" she yelled, getting up and running after them...

Back with Caspian, he continued to try and treat the patients with his magic, but it kept seeming like the disease overpowered his magic " _This isn't good...I'm running low on magic, why isn't this working?_ "

"Mister Maponus...perhaps this is a lost cause..." Doctor Kran said, letting out a defeated sigh "We've done all we can and we haven't been able to make a dent in this..." he started to walk away, placing his hands on his hips and shaking his head.

"No..." Caspian simply said, causing Dr. Kran to stop in his tracks "I refuse to give up on these people, I'll keep trying until my magic runs dry" he focused his magic again and tried to heal another patient "If you want to leave, Dr. Kran, I will gladly take over"

Doctor Kran turned back to Caspian and let out a bellowing laugh "Very well, Young man, you've lit a fire in this old man!" he rejoined Caspian and joined him in healing the people "We'll make it through this, I'm sure!"

While they kept at it, there was a figure standing at the edge of the village, simply watching the buildings, he pulled a small communication lacrima out of his pocket "The sickness has taken hold of the village, proceeding to phase 2..."

THE END

A.N: Sorry if this isn't as long as the others, but I hope you all enjoy anyway!


	14. Update

Quick Update!

Hey! Sorry to say, but there won't be a chapter of Bonds of Silver today, but don't worry, the reason I'm postponing it is because I'm doing something I've been wanting to do for a while now, so BoS will be postponed till Sunday.

Now, my plan for today is to post something new, and I hope you'll be ready to set sail with me...and then next Tuesday, I think you'll be spellbound by what I have planned (Hopefully these will work out like I have planned...)


	15. Chapter 13

Fairy Tail: Bonds of Silver- Chapter 13: What Was Found Beneath...

(Really quick, sorry I had to push this back another day, but some family stopped by for a visit and I didn't get a chance to write, but anyway, let's get this show on the road!)

Still in the church; Caspian's hope was finally beginning to wane, his magic seemed ineffective against the illness, glancing around at the people laying on the ground pained his heart " _Why isn't this working?! I've poured almost all of my magic into this...maybe Dr. Kran was right about it being a lost cause..._ " he was struck by the words he said and tried shaking the thoughts from his mind " _What am I saying?! I can't turn my back on these people, maybe Dr. Kran has found something out?_ "

He approached the backroom where Dr. Kran had been resting and heard an argument between two people, one was Dr. Kran, but the other was a voice he didn't recognize, Caspian pressed his ear to the door but could only pick up bits and pieces of the conversation "I can't...he just...get out!" he heard Dr. Kran shout.

"That is none...finish our...excavations..." The other voice replied, he then heard the other person moving across the floor, as if they were approaching Dr. Kran "Finish...bargain..." Caspian couldn't help but feel intimidated by this voice, frozen to the spot.

He tried to work up the courage to storm into the room, but he still found himself unable to move, but the looks on the faces of the patients spurred him on, relighting his bravery "Dr. Kran, is everything alright in there?" he asked, quickly opening the door before either of the men could react...but was shocked to find that Dr. Kran was the only one in the room "Was there...someone else in here?"

Dr. Kran seemed a little shaken and his clothes were disheveled and his hair was matted, he also had a look of fear on his face, he then cleared his throat and straightened his clothing "Yes, well, a ruffian in a white robe appeared and spouted some nonsense about leaving these people to their fates!" he told Caspian, his voice still shaking somewhat.

"Really? Where did he go?" Caspian asked, looking around the room and finding no evidence of this person entering or leaving "Did he say anything else?" he then stepped into the room and closed the door behind him, not wanting to cause a panic.

"Not much else..." Dr. Kran replied, sitting down at a table and letting out a deep sigh "But I'm convinced that he may have something to do with this illness..." Caspian approached the table and sat down across from Dr. Kran, a serious look on both of their faces.

"If that's the case, we should go after him, where did he go?" Caspian questioned, trying to get more answers out of Dr. Kran "If we can catch him, perhaps we can figure out a way to cure this!"

Dr. Kran shook his head, casting his gaze down to the floor "I'm sorry, Mr. Maponus, but he was using some sort of teleportation magic, there's no way we can track him down" he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, still staring at the floor "If we want to find out what he knows, our best chance would be to catch him if he returns...and even that isn't guaranteed..."

"If he does have something to do with this illness, there's no way we can just let him roam free" Caspian resolved, pushing off of the table "We should keep up with the treatments, he might even come back if we keep it up!" he tried to leave the room, but he felt something burn into the back of his head, as if someone's glare was trying to drill into it.

Caspian whipped around and noticed that it was still only him and Dr. Kran in the room "Is something wrong, Mr. Maponus?" Dr. Kran asked, concerned about the look on Caspian's face "Are you feeling alright? Perhaps you should rest?"

" _What was that?_ " Caspian asked himself, looking around to see if someone was watching them, but it was still only him and Dr. Kran, he tried to brush off the feeling "It's nothing, I should be able to help a few more people..." He replied with a smile "I haven't even played my trump card yet!"

He began digging through a satchel and pulled out several flasks, one of which was a small vial of what seemed like plain water "If normal magic isn't working, perhaps some alchemy is the answer?" he gently tossed the vial in his hand, seemingly lost in memories for a moment.

Caspian was soon brought out of his reminiscing by Dr. Kran "What is that? Some sort of panacea?" he asked, getting up from the table and looking at the vial in Caspian's hand "If something like that were to exist, it would certainly come in handy..."

"Well...it's not a panacea, per se, but I think I should be able to use it to counteract the magic" He answered, putting the vial back in his bag "It couldn't do much harm, could it? If you'll excuse me, I'm going to prepare some potions..."

Caspian opened the door and left the room, leaving Dr. Kran behind "They were right...he does have the Water of Life...gods...will I be able to pull this off?" he asked, sitting back at the table and dropping his head into his hands...

Meanwhile, Seth was still walking down the winding and twisting paths in the cave, unsure of where he was going and if he was even on the right path anymore "Come on! Where the hell did they go!" he yelled, running deeper into the cave "They've gotta be here somewhere!"

As he ran, he started to get the feeling that he was being followed by someone, but he decided to press on, ignoring the nagging feeling he felt, soon enough, he decided he couldn't ignore it anymore and spun around "Who's there?!" he shouted, he was surprised to see another robed cultist running towards him, he quickly turned his arms into metal and prepped himself for the man to attack...

"Run away! She's after me!" The cultist warned, running past Seth and leaving him confused "What are you doing!? She's coming to destroy us all!" he warned once again, disappearing into the darkness ahead of them.

"Who's 'she'?" Seth asked, scratching his head as the cultists panicked yelling faded in the depths "Hey!, Who's after you?!" he questioned, but to no avail, he was about to call out again, but he was taken by surprise as a hand grabbed the back of his head.

"I found you..." A voice in the darkness rasped, the voice sounded somewhat familiar to Seth, but the fear now flooding his brain clouded his thoughts "And now that I've got you..." The voice continued as Seth struggled in its grasp "...Stop squirming, just tell me while you're here!" The voice ordered "Wait a minute...Seth, is that you?"

A feeling of relief replaced the fear in Seth's body as he realized it was only Callie "Phew...glad to know that guy wasn't talking about some kinda monster..." he said, letting out a sigh, but she still wouldn't let him go "Let's go! We can still catch up with them!"

"Monster, huh?" Callie repeated, in a low and threatening tone, she then threw Seth to the side and started stomping through the cave "He called me a monster? I'll show him a monster!" Seth slid down the rock wall, dazed by what just happened.

"I'm starting to regret agreeing to this mission..." he moaned, finally dropping to the cave floor, once he recovered his senses, he pushed off the floor and tried to catch up with Callie "Hold on! We don't know what's down here!"

He finally caught up with her and managed to calm her down, once that was done; they both carefully walked through the tunnels "This'd be much easier if we had some light..." Callie said, straining her eyes, attempting to adjust to their surroundings "Wait...I think I see something..." She began to grope the walls and eventually found what felt like a torch, she pulled it off the wall and handed it to Seth "Think you can do anything with this?"

"Sure, I think I got an idea" Seth said, turning his hand into iron "This should work..." he started snapping his fingers together: causing a horrible cacophony of metal scraping, until he finally created a spark that lit torch "There we go!" he held the torch at arms length, illuminating the wall of the cave.

Callie noticed that something had been written on the wall "Hey...look at this, there's something here" She pointed at the writing and Seth brought the torch close to it "Yeah, look at this! 'Darkness obscures all, feed light to the stone to uncover the truth' What do you think that means?"

"Well, it says feed light to it...so we set it on fire?" Seth posited, pointing the torch towards the wall, he looked at Callie and saw that she had an exasperated look on her face "I was, um, joking, but I do think the torch has something to do with it..."

They both looked at the wall for some sort of port they could put the torch in, but there weren't any openings in the wall, but then an idea struck Callie "Wait, let me see the torch for a sec" Seth handed her the torch and she looked at the bracket she took the torch from, she then put it back into the holder and watched as the wall behind it opened slowly and pulled the torch into it, once the torch was all the way in, the wall closed once again and extinguished all light.

"...It was worth a shot, I guess..." Seth said, shrugging, but before he could say anything else; the cave began to rumble around them and the wall with the writing on it began to open up, revealing a stairway "Whoa! Nice job!"

"Heh, thanks, let's see where this leads" Callie responded, gesturing towards the new entrance, they both walked in and noticed another torch burning on the wall, Callie grabbed it and they descended into the darkness, as they went further down, a distant chanting reached their ears "Do you hear that?"

"Wish I didn't..." Seth simply replied, shivering "Creepy chanting is never a good sign..." The continued walking down, making sure they stayed low and quiet, just in case they were overheard by whoever was chanting.

Soon, they reached the bottom of the stairs and the chanting grew louder, Callie dropped low to the ground and snuffed the torch against the rocks, she then turned to Seth and gestured for him to do the same "They're up ahead, keep quiet and lets see what they're up to."

Seth nodded and the two of them crept slowly forward, eventually reaching a large open room, they ducked behind a large rock to hide behind "Check it out..." Seth said, pointing towards a large group of robed figures, at the head of the group was a hooded man in a patchy brown cloak "That guy's gotta be the leader...what's he holding?" the cloaked man was holding a round object, the dim torchlight in the cave glowing off it's ivory surface "Is that...a skull!?"

Callie quickly clapped her hand over Seth's mouth and dove behind the rock again, silently praying that they weren't heard, when she was certain they were still hidden, they both peaked out from behind cover once again.

"My friends! We have finally found it!" The hooded man cheered, holding the skull up high "With this, we shall revive our Lord and Master!" He then dropped his hands, standing eerily still "But first..." suddenly, several tentacle-like tongues erupted from under his hood and pierced the six cultists around him "Your sacrifice will help heal our master..." he then began pulling the cultists towards him, causing Callie and Seth to turn away in horror as sickening crunches began filling the cave.

"Master Golnoroth! Please, no!" One of the cultists pleaded, before he was silenced along with his allies.

"What the hell is wrong with him!?" Seth questioned, both fear and anger boiling over in him, he leaped out from behind the rock and started running towards the hooded man "Hey! Are you the one behind the sickness?!"

"Sickness?" The man repeated, tilting his head in an unfitting, child-like, manner "Oh! You mean the stuff we put in the waters to keep the villagers from bothering us!" Seth raised his arm and quickly encased himself in iron again "Oooh, That looks fun, you'll be a good friend to play with!"

Seth then leaped into the air and reared back his arm, causing it to extend into a metal pillar " _ **Iron God's Forge!: Kaiser's Schlag!**_ " (Emperor's Punch) he thrust his fist forward and the pillar began flying towards the hooded man, colliding with his head and causing him to spin around before collapsing to the ground.

"Seth!, Calm down, he needs to be _alive_ for us to turn him in!" Callie shouted, running out from behind the rock and standing next to Seth once he landed "You could've knocked his head off!" Seth turned around to argue with her, but they heard cackling from the man, causing them to whip around and face him.

"I can already tell we'll be great friends!" Golnoroth said, rising from the ground and taking off his hood, revealing his pale, burned, and scarred skin, but the most notably feature was the guild mark in the middle of his forehead, which was the foot of a dragon colored orange "Let's start the fun! _**Proboscis!**_ " He yelled, the two Silver Hippogriff mages were horrified as his jaw dislocated and the several tongues snaked out once more, shooting towards Seth and Callie.

The two of them weaved through the tongues, repelling and counterattacking them, but they were soon overwhelmed as the tongues wrapped around them "Aw, I was hopping you'd put up more of a fight! What a disappointment!"

"Shut the hell up, you freak!" Callie yelled as a purple magic circle appeared under her " _ **Weight Change!**_ " She changed gravity around her and weighed herself down, ensuring that Golnoroth couldn't pull them in, she managed to free her arms and grabbed the tongue, Seth activated his metal shell and did the same thing "Get over here!" She shouted as they yanked him off his feet and towards them.

"Well, looks like I spoke to soon!" Golnoroth laughed as he flew through the air, his body then began to rapidly expand in mid air " _ **Bloat Burst!**_ " once he was close enough, his body exploded, sending a rain of viscera towards them, Callie braced herself for impact, but she found that it never came, she opened her eyes and noticed an iron wall in front of them.

"A suicide attack, huh?" Seth questioned as the now free tongue began unraveling around him "Didn't think he'd be that desperate..." they were then surprised to hear a knocking on the other side of the wall, a shocking voice coming from the other side.

"Come on, let me in...I just want to play..." Golnoroth requested in a sing-song manner "This wall won't last long against my acid anyway..."

"Acid?! What are you talking about?" Seth questioned, but a burning sensation began spreading through his body, specifically in the parts where the tongue had wrapped itself, his iron seemed to stave it off somewhat, but Callie was screaming in intense pain "Callie?! You okay?!" Seth asked, but he was soon cut off as the acid ate a hole in the wall and Golnoroth peered in.

"Hello!" He greeted, almost mockingly, he then looked at Callie and a mischevious glint danced in his yellow eyes "I can put you out of your misery!" He then shot out another tongue towards Callie, the torchlight glinting off the sharp edges.

Seth quickly turned to her and tried to run, but he realized he wouldn't make it " _Crap! How am I gonna reach her?!_ " He yelled in his mind as the tongue got closer and closer...

Soon, lightning filled the cavern and something grabbed onto Golnoroth's tongue before it made contact with Callie, the light soon died down and Seth was surprised to see that Rai was now in the cave "I got worried when you guys didn't show up at the rendezvous, we'll talk about the competition later..." he then sent a large current through the tongue, electrocuting Golnoroth's whole body, sending him reeling as the tongue retracted towards him.

"Rai! You picked a good time to show up!" Seth joked, running up to Rai, he then looked past him and saw that Callie was recovering from the effects of the acid "Alright then, the three of us should be able to knock this weirdo out!"

"Hell yeah!" Callie agreed, pounding her fists together "I'm not gonna let that bastard get away with putting his tongue on me!"

"Tongue?" Rai questioned, a different interpretation of Callie's words hitting him, causing anger to build in him "How dare you do that to such a lovely lady!?" he yelled, electricity arcing all over his body as he shouted.

"Bastard? Weirdo?" Golnoroth repeated, his shoulders sagging "You're not friends at all..." he then whipped off his cloak, revealing more of his scarred body "That's fine! Now I don't have to feel bad about going all out!" he began roaring as his own bones began tearing their way out of his body, his shoulder blades turning into wings, and his spine turning into dinosaur-like ridges, his body began to expand to accommodate the larger bones, but his head remained the same size "Come! Break yourself against my invincible bones!" he taunted as the three Mages prepped themselves for battle...

At the same time, back in the Church, Caspian had begun to make potions for the people " _The water is normally used to heal wounds, but perhaps it can heal sickness as well with the right combination of herbs?_ " he thought as he ground several herbs into a past in a pestle and mortar.

"Pardon the intrusion, Mr. Maponus, but can I ask you something?" Dr. Kran asked, surprising Caspian as he entered the room "That's no ordinary water, is it?" Caspian wasn't surprised that Dr. Kran was able to figure it out, he put down the pestle and turned to face the doctor.

"Yeah...it came from my hometown..." He admitted, wistfully remembering what happened to his home "It was used to heal any injuries, people came from far and wide to utilize it..." he then fell silent as he remembered a certain incident...

"I see...then I'm sorry, Mr. Maponus..." Dr. Kran apologized, Caspian was about to tell him not to apologize, but he was quickly set upon by the older man, who somehow moved faster than anticipated, driving a scalpel into Caspian's stomach "I need this to hold my end of the bargain..."

Caspian tried to call out, but Dr. Kran put is hand over his mouth "Please, don't make this harder..." Caspian could only look at Dr. Kran's face in disbelief, seeing a look of pure regret in his eyes...

THE END!

A.N: This one's a little darker than normal, but I hope you all still enjoy! And sorry again that this took so long to come out...


	16. Chapter 14

Fairy Tail: Bonds of Silver- Chapter 14: The Birth of The Gemstone Fellowship!

(So, I was planning on releasing a new chapter of Errant Justice on Friday, but my dog stepped on my laptop and cracked the screen, so I needed to get it repaired and just got it back earlier today, so to celebrate (in some sense of the word) I'm announcing that I decided to change my release schedule! It'll be as follows: Bonds of Silver on Mondays, Errant Justice on Wednesdays, and an undecided story (I've got too many ideas and can't decide what to do) on Fridays, which I'll probably get more into at the end of this chapter, anyways, let's get this show going!)

While Seth's team was busy fighting against Golnoroth, Dawn was back in Turquesa making preparations to head for head for Jaspe, she was in her room and inspecting a rack of weapons set up on one of her walls –which was filled with weapons she had taken from those she had defeated on different missions "Hmm...I'll be on the road, so perhaps an arming sword would be appropriate?"

Her thoughts were soon interrupted by a knocking on her door "Dawn? Are you in here?" It was the voice of her guildmate Esmond, she called out to him and the door slowly opened, he stepped inside, dressed in his normal attire: a long white coat with a purple lining, under which was a dark gray shirt and crimson pants, as well as black shoes.

His skin was a dark olive tone and his hair was maroon and flared out at different angles "Master Emilia asked me to accompany you on this mission, are you okay with that?"

Dawn nodded, giving Esmond a friendly smile "You can go on ahead, I'll just be a moment longer" Esmond silently nodded and exited the room, Dawn finally chose one of the swords off of the rack and fitted it to her belt "Who knows, I might not even need this..." she took a deep breath and mentally prepared herself for the journey ahead, she grabbed her bag that was sitting on the bed and exited the room, joining Esmond in the main hall.

"Do you have everything in order?" Esmond asking, slinging a bag of his own over his shoulder "It wouldn't benefit anyone if we had to make a return trip"

"Don't worry, I checked my bag twice" Dawn replied, patting the side of her bag as the two of them started walking out of the building "So, where are we meeting the other guilds?" Esmond was silent for a moment, taking a map out of his pocket and unfolding it in front of him.

He pointed at a town towards the southeast of Turquesa "There's a town that's the perfect midpoint between Jaspe and Azabache, I believe that it's called Topacio, We'll be taking an airship there, it'll be longer than a train ride but it's much safer."

As Esmond explained what was happening, Dawn began to remember the meeting she had with Emilia "I don't mean to worry you, but this mission may be quite dangerous, if you would rather sit this one out, I'll completely understand."

Dawn was somewhat nervous by this statement, but she wasn't totally swayed "It should be fine, mother, what else should I know about this mission?" Emilia opened the drawer on her desk and took out the leather-bound book she had gotten from Gaius and placed it on the desk, sliding it towards Dawn.

"This book was taken from a group of Imp Horn members" Emilia told her as Dawn opened the book, gasping at what she found there "Master Gaius from Kobold Fang tells me that it's a sales ledger, and as you can see, it's not just weapons they're smuggling."

"Seth had a theory that the attack on Espinela had something to do with the slave trade in Bosco..." Dawn informed Emilia as she flipped through the book and began reading names "...Could these be connected?"

Emilia crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair, thinking "It is a possibility, but we just don't have enough information at this moment, you'll have to be careful and not put these poor people in danger, but I have faith you'll be able to handle this."

"Thank you, I'll be sure to take care" Dawn said, bowing to Emilia "With your leave, I'll begin preparations immediately" Emilia nodded at her and said goodbye as Dawn left the room...

Back in the real world, Emilia realized that she and Esmond had finally reached the Airship port, and Esmond was trying to get her attention "Everything alright? You're not getting cold feet now, are you?" Dawn laughed off his comment and shook her head.

"I was just thinking about what mother, er, um, _the master_ had told us" Dawn replied, clearing her throat "About how this may be a rescue mission, we'll have to fight carefully so we don't endanger them, it's becoming more complex the more that I think about it..." her gaze dropped to the wooden deck of the port, before she could say anything else, she felt a hand on her head as Esmond began to ruffle her hair.

"Don't think about it too hard, it'll be a difficult quest, but we'll be alright" He said, pulling his hand back as they approached the ticket seller "Look on the bright side, this is the first official mission of the Gemstone Fellowship!"

"Gemstone Fellowship...?" Dawn repeated, processing what Esmond had just said, when it finally hit her, she couldn't help but burst into laughter, surprising Esmond and everyone around the port "Seriously!? What kind of name is that?!"

"Hey, calm down, you're making a scene..." Esmond said, trying to calm her down as more and more people began to look at them, giving them either confused or annoyed glances " _Glad she's not stressing about the mission, I guess..._ "

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Dawn apologized, wrapping her arms around her stomach as she doubled over, still laughing "It just sounds so cheesy!" she finally managed to calm herself down as they found themselves holding up the line, they made their way to the counter, Dawn finally noticed all of the eyes on her and she began to blush furiously "H-Hello...two tickets to, uh, Topacio"

"Of course, that'll be 7,500 Jewels" The man behind the counter said, trying to keep it professional, but he was stifling a laugh, embarrassing Dawn even more, the man composed himself and went about getting them their tickets "Here you go, the ship should be arriving shortly."

They quickly grabbed their tickets and found a place to sit "Well...that was mortifying..." Dawn muttered, dropping her head into her hands, she sighed and raised her head "Do you know anything about these other mages?"

"I don't know too much, but one of them is touted as some sort of prodigy" Esmond answered, shoving his hands in his coat pockets "If this is more than just idle chatter, this should be smooth sailing" he leaned back slightly and smirked at Dawn "So lighten up, alright?"

Dawn laughed, but it felt awkward and stilted "You're right, it's just that, on top of what happened at Espinela, and now with what's going on in Jaspe, I can't help but feel like something big is going on here, you know?" She crossed her arms and stared at the horizon "Like something is happening behind the scenes that we don't know about...and it's more than a bit disconcerting."

"Hmm...I guess that's true, but we can't worry about the things we can't see, right now we have a clear target" Esmond pointed out, pulling one hand from his pocket and holding up one finger "It won't do us any good to spend time chasing every gut feeling."

Dawn was about to reply, but she was cut off by an announcement over a loud speaker " **The next flight to Topacio will be arriving shortly, please make sure you have all of your luggage before boarding the Airship.** "

"That's true, I suppose, thank you Esmond" Dawn said, standing from her seat and grabbing her bag "I guess I just needed to vent a little" the two of them watched as the Airship slowly descended into the port and people began gather around it.

Esmond stood up as well and gathered his things "That's what I'm here, listening while tell me all of their life's worries" he joked as they made their way towards the gangplank, boarding the ship and finding a place to sit, Dawn stared out the window, watching as they lifted into the clouds...

Meanwhile, back with Seth's group, Seth, Rai, and Callie were nearly at their limits, unable to scratch Golnoroth's body, even with Seth hammering away as hard as he could "It's useless! There's no way you three can defeat me!"

"Shut up!" Seth yelled, leaping into the air and turning his fists into the heads of pickaxes, he landed on Golnoroth and tried to chip away at the giant bones, not even making a scratch, Golnoroth reached up and grabbed the young mage "Let...Go...!" Seth groaned, trying to force the hand apart.

"Heheheh...don't struggle" Golnoroth taunted as Seth continued to push against his closed fingers "You can't break through!" suddenly, his eyes began to merge together and a beam started firing out of it, blasting directly onto Seth, causing him to cry out.

Suddenly, Golnoroth began to slowly rise off the ground, the confusion of the change causing him to lose his grip on Seth, he let go and a ball of lightning scooped him up and Rai dropped to the ground, placing Seth on the ground, When Seth recovered, he noticed there was a purple barrier around Golnoroth " _ **Gravity Prison!**_ " Callie yelled, glaring angrily at the giant.

"There's gotta be a way...to bust through his defenses..." Seth wheezed, shakily standing up, suddenly, an idea struck him "Callie! Can you keep him in the air?!" Callie gave a silent thumbs up and then Seth turned to Rai "Okay, this is gonna sound kinda weird, but I need you to...strike me with lightning!"

"What?! Are you crazy?" Rai questioned, taken aback by the request "What's gonna happen if this plan of yours ends up backfiring?!" he looked Seth in the eye and saw the pure determination burning there "Sigh...fine, but if I end up frying you, don't say I didn't told you so!"

Seth nodded and began to turn his entire body into metal, ending with his arms, which stretched into long iron bars " _I've only got one shot with_ _this...better make it count..._ You ready, Rai?"

"I guess I am..." Rai answered, electricity arcing through his body, Seth raised both of his arms and aimed them at Golnoroth's floating body as he fought against Callie's spell, Rai placed his hand on Seth's shoulder and began passing the electricity through his own body towards Seth "Here we go..."

"Alright...Callie! Drop him!" Seth ordered, surprising both Callie and Rai, Callie whipped around to face him with an incredulous look on her face "Come on! Do it!"

"Are you serious?!" Callie questioned, her focus starting to wane "If I let him go, he's just gonna keep rampaging and we can't do anything about it!" she quickly turned her gaze back to Golnoroth, focusing her magic once again "I can't drop him!"

"Callie!, Just drop him!" Rai agreed, a dead serious look on his face "Seth has a plan, let's just hear him out!" Callie faced Rai and let out an angry grunt dispelling her magic, causing Golnoroth to crash to the ground and stun him, she jumped back when he hit the ground, getting closer to her allies "Do it, Seth!"

The electricity began surging towards Seth's arms " _ **Unison Raid!: Blitzrute des Eroberers!**_ " (Conqueror's Lightning Rod) the lightning focused towards the end of Seth's arms and fired off in a concentrated beam, hitting the ceiling directly above Golnoroth "We can't beat this guy! We've gotta trap him!"

The ceiling began to collapse all around them, dropping onto Golnoroth, first pinning his leg in place, and then falling all over his back, they could even see cracks beginning to form on the bones lining his body "Let's get out of here!" Rai shouted, whisking Callie off of her feet and disappearing in a flash of light.

"H-Hey! Don't leave me here!" Seth shouted, as his jaw dropped to the floor, he closed his mouth and began running towards the exit, but before he could leave, he heard something that sent chills through his body, Golnoroth was singing...

"~Little Birdie, Little Birdie, flying the sky, do you see the wolves while you're on high? Beat your wings as long as you can, for when you rest upon the land, the wolves close in and then-" His song was abruptly cut off when a rock landed in front of his face, muffling him, Seth shook this off and started running towards the exit...

Meanwhile, back in the village, Caspian woke up in a dark room, unaware of where he was "Hello?, Doctor Kran?" he tried to get up, but the pain in his abdomen brought him back down "What happened?" He questioned, placing his hand on the bandages, which felt wet "Blood...perhaps I can use this."

He approached the door and pressed his ear against it, trying to hear if anyone was on the other side "So, this kid had the Water of Life?" he heard someone on the other side ask "Who would've thought a scrawny punk like him would have it?"

" _They wanted the water?_ " Caspian asked himself, mentally chastising himself for revealing something so easily " _Damn, who knows what they want it for?_ " he calmed himself down and placed his hand on his stomach again " _I've gotta get outta here..._ " an idea began slowly forming in his mind as he sat back down.

Minutes later, one of the guards thought he heard something in the room behind him "Help...please...it hurts..." He heard, he opened the door and saw Caspian laying on the ground, his bandages were ripped off and he was bleeding on the floor "Please...I need help..."

The guard approached him, sighing "Look kid, if this is some sort of plot, it ain't gonna work, get up!" he got close to Caspian and reached down "Didn't you hear-" Before he could say anything else, Caspian sprung up and latched onto the guard, muffling his screams with one hand and placing his other on the man's chest.

The man tried to pull him off, but he felt his heartbeat slow down, to the point where he felt himself starting to fall asleep, collapsing to the ground under Caspian's weight, hearing the commotion, the second guard rushed in.

"Crap...I'm no fighter...guess I have no choice" Caspian sighed, he placed his hand on his stomach wound, the blood pouring from the wound changing and becoming a dagger "Please, you can keep the water, just let me out of here so I can help those people."

The guard laughed, drawing a blade of his own "You still don't get it, do you? We just wanted the Water, you're worthless to us now..." he taunted, getting into a fighting stance "We were gonna ransom you off to your friends, guess that plan's out the window now..."

THE END!

A.N: Sorry for the late post, my computer crashed... _twice_ , anyway, hope you enjoy, and as for what I said at the beginning, I have two ideas I can't decide between for new stories, one was a Black Clover story, and the other is something kinda different, a story based off one of my favorite video games...Dragon Age! I'll probably come to a decision before Friday, but I'd love to hear what you guys think!


	17. Chapter 15

Fairy Tail: Bonds of Silver- Chapter 15: Requiem of the Gods

(So, this chapter is gonna be a little different than the others, this one will mostly be for some world-building (which is kinda funny because I was recently talking with someone about world-building) based around Gods and God Slaying, this could potentially be a little soon, but I hope you guys enjoy!)

The cave was still, the ceiling had completely collapsed and everything was silent, it seemed as if Seth's plan had worked and Golnoroth was eliminated, but suddenly- the cave began to periodically rumble, the rumbling became more and more frequent as a large, armored, hand reached down into the cave and began sifting through the debris.

The hand soon found was it was looking for, the prone form of Golnoroth, it lifted him into the air and out of the cave, revealing that it belonged to a giant woman, nearly 30 feet tall, she had long orange hair pulled into a ponytail, was dressed in not only a suit of plate armor, but the furs of legendary beasts as well, strapped to her back was a large war axe, this was Nyra Magnus, a powerful combatant that was part of Wrym Talon.

"So, you got taken out that easily, huh, creature?" She asked Golnoroth, pulling him up to face level as he began to stir "Those fools manage to get in one good hit and you crumble, is that it?" Golnoroth sat up in her palm and laughed.

"Yes, well, I will admit that that attack was a bit unprecedented..." He replied, digging through his robes and pulling out a skull "But, a prolonged battle could have risked what is truly important...the remains of our master!" he then stood up and made a grandiose pose "Do you not see, Nyra? We are mere steps away from completing our goal!"

Nyra scoffed at this assertion, staring at the skull in Golnoroth's hand "All this nonsense about Gods, we should be focusing on wiping out our enemies, three of those Silver Hippogriff punks are running away, we should cut them off and take them out!"

"Patience, my giant friend, if we complete our plan, not only will we destroy our enemies, but those that survive will be brought to heel as well!" Golnoroth countered, pointing one finger up towards Nyra "With the power of the Gods on our side, there is no way they'll be able to stand up to us!"

"It just doesn't make sense" Nyra responded, turning away from the cave and heading in the opposite direction "How can you put so much faith in something that's dead and gone? Why not just use your own strength to achieve your goals?"

Golnoroth began to reply, but his injuries forced him to sharply inhale and take a knee "Tell me, Nyra, do you know the story of the Gods?" The giant remained quiet, telling Golnoroth all he needed to know "Allow me to elucidate, then..."

Long before humans walked the earth, and long before even Dragons reigned, there existed the Gods: Beings that possessed such strong magical power that a simple shout from one could destroy entire civilizations, Chief among them was Ankhseram, guardian of the delicate balance of Life and Death.

Those that came after were considered the Children of Ankhseram; Chronos, given dominion over time, the Yakuma Eighteen War Gods, a tribe of Gods that could turn the tide of any battle, and numerous Gods charged with preserving a certain aspect of this world.

But, there were two that aren't spoken of in many texts, raised as siblings and both holding the title of God of Justice, The brother was known as Forseti, a dark-haired man with an even darker outlook, and his sister Astrea, a woman with golden hair, possessing a calm and calculating personality, but a love for all creatures living in this world.

The Gods enjoyed being the only seat of power on the land, but other beings began rising in the world, these were the powerful Dragons: creatures with enough magic power to overthrow the gods, and Humans: A simple yet versatile race that created small settlements along the lands.

The Dragons saw the humans as simple livestock, devouring them whenever they had the chance, but that is a story that has already been told, while Dragons terrorized the humans, yet still they thrived, tenacity and will being their only weapons, catching the attention of the Gods, causing them to call a summit to decide how they should handle the humans –especially if they became enemies.

"These humans seem quite peaceable, perhaps if we approach them and offer our protection, they will be easier to manipulate?" One of the Yakuma Gods proposed, he was a giant black beast, and would come to be known as Ikusa-Tsunagi, leader of the Yakuma clan "And perhaps with their assistance, we can eliminate the Dragon threat as well?"

Ankhseram listened in silence, resting his head against his hand and leaning in his chair "That would lead to an unnecessary amount of death, these humans do not possess the strength to fight the dragons" Ikusa-Tsunagi was about to reply, but he was silenced by a simple glare from Ankhseram.

"Then perhaps we gain the loyalty of humans and offer them a place as equals?" Astrea offered, shocking those that sat around her "We should reveal ourselves to the humans, and extend our hand as allies, not conquerors."

"We are _not_ looking for new allies" Chronos snarled, glaring at Astrea "Who's to say the humans would not turn against us as well?" as the gods began to go back and forth over what to do with the humans and the dragons, Astrea decided she had had enough and left the meeting, though not many noticed her departure, aside from her brother, Forseti, who promptly followed.

Astrea walked along a starlit path, thoughts racing through her mind, but a familiar voice freed her from her thoughts "They grow arrogant, they believe we should remain powerful..." she turned to see her brother standing behind her.

"Aye, dear Forseti, they think we should subjugate both Human and Dragon, but that can only lead to more bloodshed" Astrea said, her normally serious face now saddened "On _all_ sides, we may very well invite or own destruction..."

"You seek a solution that benefits all?" Forseti asked, incredulous, he approached his sister and placed a hand on her shoulder "Have you not seen what the humans have done? They fight amongst themselves, even when they should be uniting against the dragons, they raid their own civilizations and slaughter their neighbors, they need someone like us to guide them!"

"Yes, I believe the same thing, brother" Astrea said, undeterred by his words "But we shall guide them as allies, not as conquerors" Forseti seemed angry, though his face remained calm and placid "If we attempt to conquer them, we may meet their wrath."

Their conversation was put on hold as they saw smoke on the horizon, they both looked at each other and nodded, rushing off towards the smoke, they soon found that it lead to a burning village, but they couldn't hear any villagers "Please! If anyone is here, say something!" Astrea yelled, hoping someone would reply.

The village was silent, sending cold chills through both of the Gods, but they soon heard something that made hope well in Astrea's chest "Help...please..." she rushed off towards the voice and soon found a man pinned under a burning building "Help me...please..."

Astrea nodded and set about trying to free the man, pushing as hard as she could against the burning rubble, but the heat and weight prevented her from doing so, she wanted to use magic to save the man, but the risk was too great, he would be killed with one wrong step.

She kept pushing against the debris, but to no avail, resulting in burns scarring her arms and body "I can't do this alone! Please, brother, help me!" She looked back at Forseti, a pleading look in her eyes, Forseti raised his hands and began channeling his magic, but what he did next shocked Astrea to her core...

The weight of the debris increased and squeezed the life from the man, his head dropped to the ground, now lifeless "How can we teach these humans of Justice, if they keep bringing injustices upon themselves?" he coldly stated, walking away from his sister as the village burned around them, leaving her as tears began to form in her eyes.

Her brother's betrayal seemed to only strengthen Astrea's resolve, as she dried her eyes and began searching through the remains of the city once more, searching for any survivors, she soon found the remnants of the village huddled together in a building that the flames had yet to reach, she lead them to safety and lead them outside of the village.

"Please, I need you all to calm down!" She called over the panicking of the people "Listen to me! There is something I must tell you!"

"From that day on, Astrea counted herself as seperate from the Gods, living amongst the people, and one day, when she decided they were ready, she taught them the forbidden art of...God Slaying" Golnoroth pontificated, gesturing to the sky "For she now believed that the Gods were actually the greatest threat humanity faced!"

"So, is this her skull?" Nyra questioned, stomping through the forest, taking care not to thoughtlessly trample any of the wildlife below "You think she'd help us? She seemed like she was fond of humanity, why would she help us with our enemies?"

Golnoroth held up one finger, silently chiding Nyra "Ah...you focused on the wrong character!" he told her, examining the skull "This does not belong to Astrea, this is _Forseti's_ skull! There is still more you do not know, let me tell you of an event known as...The Requiem of the Gods!"

Astrea approached her brother, anger burning in her eyes "How could you forsake that man like that?!" she shouted, standing in his way when he tried to push past her "Why are you so callous towards these humans?!"

"I told you, Sister, they have brought these tragedies upon themselves" He coolly stated, crossing his arms in front of him "They will bring about there own downfall if we let them go on like this..." he then gestured for her to follow him, reluctantly, she did.

He led her to a ruined palace, in the middle of which stood a single human, he was a young man dressed in rags, the burns along the hem of the tunic told Astrea that he was from the village she had saved last night, but something about him seemed wrong; his eyes were dull and seemed lifeless.

"What do you need of me, master?" He asked, his voice sounding monotone, Astrea was horrified at what she was seeing, Forseti had seemed to have removed this man's will, she whipped around to face him, disgusted by the proud look on his face.

"Do you not see, sister?" He asked, gesturing towards the man "He is now perfect! Without a will to tell him to fight, he won't have any desire to destroy, if all the humans were like this, they would be able to live peacefully!"

Astrea was unable to find her voice, but when she saw the man again, blankly staring at Forseti, she soon found it "This isn't right! Without a will, not only will he be unable to fight, he won't be able to _defend!_ " she approached Forseti and grabbed his shoulders "This would be a death sentence!"

Forseti didn't react, instead, he continued on his diatribe "Once they are all complacent, I can lead them against the Gods and the Dragons, once all are under my reign, there will be no war or conflict, THAT is the ultimate Justice!"

"I was afraid this would happen..." Astrea said, watching her brother, she then raised her hand "Forgive me for what I must do, brother..." She then dropped her hand and suddenly, a long bar of black iron pierced through Forseti.

Suddenly, several robed figures appeared from the shadows and stood alongside Astrea "What...have you done?!" Forseti hoarsely shouted, panicking as he noticed that his wounds weren't healing "You didn't...!" 

"I am sorry, brother, I knew you would attempt something like this, I needed a fail safe" Astrea explained, gesturing towards the robed people "I have taught them the art of God Slaying, in order to balance the power held by the Gods..."

"This...this is unacceptable!" Forseti bellowed, charging towards his sister's group, who felt an intense pressure building around them, nearly being crushed by the very weight of gravity itself "Why would you stand in the way of justice!?" he focused his magic around his fists, creating a bubble of darkness around them.

He tore his way through slayers, knocking them around and nearly killing them in the process, they managed to fire off some counterattacks, but they were not enough to put him down, soon, it was down to Astrea and one other slayer against him.

"Brother, please, stop this nonsense!" Astrea pleaded, trying to reach Forseti through his anger, but to no avail, he simply scoffed in response "I see, you're set on this path then?" she then slowly approached him, holding her arms out wide, surprising both the slayer and Forseti "Alright then brother, I surrender, do what you must..."

Forseti simply nodded, his face returning to its normal, placid state "Very well, sister, know that I am sorry it came to this..." He approached Astrea, who stood still and simply waited for what was to come as the darkness on Forseti's hand became a claw, he rose it up and prepared to strike...

Only for Astrea to spring forward and wrap her arms around him, holding him still "Now! Strike now!" she ordered, looking back at the Slayer "Please! Even if I die, I must protect the people from him!"

The slayer was stunned, but resolved themselves and focused their magic again, firing another metal spike through both Astrea and Forseti, incapacitating them both, they slowly fell to the ground, still embracing each other "Protect them? No...you have...doomed them."

"It's alright brother, I have faith in the humans..." Astrea replied, smiling calmly, even as she bled out "They will find a way to protect themselves...even without the Gods to guide them..." she closed her eyes and slowly drifted off, Forseti struggled for a bit more, but eventually succumbed to his wounds.

The lone slayer noticed that the two of them had passed, and at the same time, their allies were coming to as well, he then made the decision to bring their bodies to the other Gods, even if it meant facing punishment.

Ankhseram was shocked by the kindness and integrity of these humans, and accepted their humble apologies, letting them go without any sort of punishment, much to the chagrin of the other gods, these humans returned to their mundane lives, and in honor of Astrea, began penning her teachings, giving rise to more and more generations of God Slayers.

"In time, the sacrifice of Astrea was sadly forgotten, and the humans began to worship the gods, even bringing sacrifices in their name" Golnoroth finished, sitting down in Nyra's palm once again "But the magic she gave to the humans still lives on to this day..."

"I think I get it now, we're gonna bring back this Forseti guy, and use his powers to bring our enemies down, right?" Nyra asked, glancing down at Golnoroth, who was still looking at the skull "And we need his bones to do that?"

" _And_ one other thing..." Golnoroth corrected her, not looking away from the skull "The Water of Life, with that, we shall concoct a panacea that will reverse anything, even death itself!" he shouted, devolving into a twisted and distorted laugh...

THE END!

A.N: Sorry if this is a bit different, I thought it would be interesting to delve into the origins of God Slaying, and sorry if this doesn't make much sense, this was kind of a spur of the moment addition, but I hope you enjoy regardless!


	18. Chapter 16

Fairy Tail: Bonds of Silver- Chapter 16: Tension Building!

(Before I begin, I'd like to apologize for not posting either Errant Justice or Courage to Grow Again, but I was trying to plan these stories out a bit before jumping into them, and also, I have something kinda serious to talk about; I don't know if I'll be redoing Ad Astra, I've tried multiple times to rewrite it, but it just isn't coming to me and I'm now thinking I work better with Fantasy settings, I'm very sorry to say this, but I hope you enjoy anything else I come up with!)

They felt the ground begin to shake, shock waves vibrating them to their very cores, but they dared not look back, Seth's group had not stopped running since they had escaped the cave and they were now beginning to feel the fatigue "Rai...Wait up..." Seth wheezed, reaching out towards Rai and Callie.

Rai didn't say anything, but he did end up slowing down "I think we've put a good amount of ground between us..." Rai said, finally putting down Callie "And it doesn't seem like we're being followed either, we should be good to take a rest."

Upon hearing this, Seth flopped onto the ground, panting "Phew...glad to get away from that guy...what the hell was up with him? We couldn't even _dent_ him!" he pushed off the ground with his back and sat up, looking at Callie and Rai "He was like some sorta monster."

"I know what you mean" Callie answered, leaning against a tree and crossing her arms, staring at the ground "But there's gotta be a way to beat him, right?" a silence fell over the three young mages as they tried to think of what to do.

Rai was the first to break the silence, pointing his thumb towards the town "We can figure that out later, right now, we have to check back in with Caspian, see if he's made any headway curing that disease" the others nodded and they started making their way back to the village.

The forest seemed eerily quiet as they walked through the forest "This is creepy...it's like the forest itself is catching this disease..." Seth noted, looking around at the silent forest: there were no deer watching them, no insects chirping, nor were there any birds flying above them "Did they do this just so no one would bother them?"

"It would stand to reason, the less living things in this area, the less of a chance there is for something to interrupt their investigations" Rai pointed out, taking a vial out of his pocket "I found a lake deep in the forest, perhaps they poisoned it in some way?"

"That's so messed up!" Callie shouted, punching a nearby tree as they ran past "They wanna wipe out entire villages just so they don't get bothered!?" she glanced back over her shoulder, glaring towards the cave "Should we go after them? We might have a chance after that cave in!"

"We'd just get steamrolled, besides, I think I'm running low on Magic Power..." Seth disagreed, placing a hand on his stomach "I need some iron if I'm gonna be able to fight anything" they soon found themselves on the outskirts of the village, and things had seemed to have gotten worse.

Not a soul was walking around the town and it seemed as if it was now a ghost town, they walked around, calling out for anyone to answer them, but they were only met with silence "This isn't right, where's Caspian?" Rai asked as they arrived at where they had parked their Magic Vehicle, but it was gone "And the Four Wheeler is gone? Let's head back to the church, maybe we can get some answers."

Seth and Callie nodded "Maybe that Kran guy will know what's going on, he seemed a little off when we first talked to him, didn't he?" this accusation seemed to surprise Seth, who looked at Callie with a confused look.

"Did he? I just thought he was tired from helping all of these people" He proposed, rubbing the back of his head "You don't think he could have something to do with this, do you?" the three of them made their way to the church, carefully scanning their surroundings as they did, unsure if Golnoroth or any potential allies of his were around, once they had reached the door to the church, Rai turned to stop them.

"We'll have to do this carefully, if Kran is involved with all of this, we can't let him know we're on to him" He planned, pointing from Seth to Callie "That means that the two of you can't go off half-cocked and start throwing punches, alright?"

"Right" The two of them simultaneously agreed as Rai turned to face the door, about to open it, but he was stopped when he heard voices from within, he gestured for the others to stop as he started to eavesdrop on whoever was on the other side of the door.

"The boy with the Water of Life has been secured" One voice asked, it had a deep and commanding tone to it, but Rai didn't recognize it "We will be evacuating in an hour collect your belongings and meet us near the north gate of the village, if you are not there when we arrive, we will leave you behind, do you understand?"

The next voice shocked Rai, it was the shaky and nervous voice of Doctor Kran "B-But, what about the villagers? We can't just leave them in this condition, can we?" the other voice didn't answer and Rai heard Doctor Kran step forward "I...I don't think I can go through with this, please, cure whatever you have done to them!"

The first voice was still silent, but eventually let out a chilling, mirthless laughter "We will certainly cure this village..." he said, the deliver of the line sent chills through everyone that had heard it "But you have no reason to worry, you will be long gone before we begin our next step..."

The church was then filled with the thrumming sound of magic, the Silver Hippogriff mages quickly looked from one another and burst into the church, surprising all of the patients within, upon seeing them, Doctor Kran quickly walked towards them "Oh, uh, I wasn't expecting you to return so soon..."

Seth opened his mouth to speak, but Rai quickly preempted him and replied to Doctor Kran "We ran into a little trouble at a cave up north, it was one of the places you told us to investigate, it seems there's a Dark Guild running around" he then took the water sample he had taken out of his pocket and showed it to Kran "They also seemed to have put something in the water, it caused an adverse reaction when a deer took a drink from it."

"O-Oh, I see, you wouldn't mind if I examined that sample, would you?" Doctor Kran asked, reaching for the sample, but Rai quickly retracted his hand, pulling the vial out of Kran's reach "Don't worry, I'll be quite careful with it!" he gave the three mages a fake smile, trying to ease their nerves "It may even lead us to a cure, please, give it here."

Rai gently pushed Doctor Kran's hand away and put the vial back in his pocket "That's alright, I think I'll hold onto it, it'll be much safer with me anyway" he said, patting his pocket "Besides, we should discuss this with Caspian" He then glanced around the church and noticed that Caspian was nowhere to be seen "Where is he, by the way? It isn't like him to leave a job unfinished..."

"Oh, uh, Mr. Maponus was missing some reagents for a potion he was trying to make, I think he took your Magic Four-wheeler and returned to your Guild Hall" Doctor Kran lied, rubbing his hands together "He didn't say when he would be returning, but he shouldn't be gone for long, perhaps I should start the analysis without him?"

Callie then started walking towards him, she didn't say anything, but the aura she was giving off filled Dr. Kran with fear, he started backing away from her, terror clear on his face "You've been kinda cagey since we got back, is there anything you want to talk about, Doctor?"

"W-What? No, everything is completely fine!" Kran replied, trying to steady his breathing but finding it impossible, he soon found himself with his back against the wall and Callie was bearing down on him, she clenched her fist and threw a punch.

Doctor Kran closed his eyes as he heard Seth and Rai yell for Callie to stop, but he then heard the punch connect with the wall beside him, he slowly opened his eyes and saw Callie glaring down at him "I'm gonna give you another chance, doc, where is Caspian?"

Doctor Kran tried to look away from her, he looked at Seth with a pleading look in his eyes "P-Please, young man, you have to call her off! I didn't do anything to Caspian!" Seth met his eyes and responded with a challenging glare "You can't possibly believe I did something to him!?"

"You tell me, Doctor Kran, who was it you were talking to earlier?" Seth asked, crossing his arms and continuing to glare at Kran, when he saw the doctor's eyes go wide, he had a feeling his suspicions may have been true "Did that man happen to have a guild mark that looked like the claws of a dragon?"

Kran quickly shook his head, slightly surprising his three interrogators "No, no, he had no such guild mark!" Callie glanced back at Rai, who simply nodded, with that signal –she punched the wall next to Kran's head, causing it to crack "Please! I'm telling you the truth!"

Rai then noticed that all of the patients were watching them, some with looks of worry or confusion, and others with looks of anger "Perhaps we should continue this in private, Seth, do you have enough magic left to bind him?"

"I think I should, let me see..." Seth replied, focusing his magic, suddenly, a pair of handcuffs appeared in his hands and he clasped them around Dr. Kran's wrists "Sorry, Doctor Kran, but until we figure out what happened to Caspian, you're a suspect."

The three of them lead Kran into the back room "Sigh...I suppose it makes sense, you don't need to feel guilty, young man..." Once all four of them were in the back room, Rai took once last look at the patients and took a deep breath.

"This is going to be a long night, I can already feel it..." he muttered to himself before closing the door, much to the weak protests of the patients...

Unbeknownst to them, in an unknown building, Caspian was fighting against these unknown assailants, putting up a decent fight against them, despite his injuries "I do not know who you are, but if you are the ones who have infected those poor people, there is no way I will forgive you..."

One of the soldiers tried to sneak up behind him, but Caspian was able to spin around and kick him to the ground, binding him with restraints made from his blood, seeing that he was preoccupied with his ally, another soldier tried to blindside him, which Caspian easily sidestepped and tripped up the man, causing him to hit his head on the ground and knocking him out.

Caspian looked at the two men, letting out a relieved sigh when he realized that they were defeated, even though one man still struggled against his bonds "Please, don't struggle, it won't do you any good, but I won't hurt you" He then crouched next to him "I simply need information, how do I get back to the village?"

"Go to hell! I'm not gonna tell you anything!" the man spat, snarling at Caspian "You're not gonna stop our boss' plan!" Caspian then reached down and placed his hand on the man's shoulder "What the hell are you doing!?"

He looked up at Caspian and was shocked to see that the soft and kind look he normally sported was no longer there, now replaced with one of uncharacteristic anger and contempt "I know that I said I wouldn't hurt you, but that does not mean I am _incapable_ of doing so..." he bluffed, tightening his grip on the man's shoulder "I can slow your heartbeat until it has halted, or speed it up until your heart explodes, now, I ask again: how do I get back to the village?"

"Y-You psychopath!" The soldier cursed, clearly affected by Caspian's words "There's no way you'd do anything like that!" Caspian didn't reply, and simply kept glaring at the man "...F-Fine!, Just go south outta here, you'll find your way back to that village!"

"Thank you, that was all I needed" Caspian thanked, standing up and bowing to the man, he then turned away from him and approached the tables " _They must have kept some sort of documentation about this disease..._ " he leafed through multiple papers, but couldn't find anything that seemed relevant to his investigation, but he eventually found something that looked like it could be a formula " _Huh? It isn't a disease...it's a poison..._ " he examined the formula very carefully " _It seems to be made of various poisonous plants, and one that inhibits magic..._ "

Before he could plan his next step, he heard something that sounded like a gun cocking behind him "I see you've found something...intriguing, my young friend" Caspian slowly put his hands up and turned to face the man, he scanned the man's face, trying to find something that stood out in case he escaped.

He was a tall and lanky man with flowing white hair, but nothing else seemed to stick out, no discernable scars, no marks, and not even an emblem to denote his guild, though he mentally noted it could have been under his pure white robes "I suppose I am to be a hostage now?" Caspian asked, trying to keep his calm.

"Well, I was thinking I would just shoot you dead here and now..." The man replied, leveling his gun at Caspian, who stood unflinching "But, I just got wind that that useless doctor got himself captured, so a prisoner exchange is the best move" He then pointed his gun towards the door "How about you follow me? We'll be meeting with your friends shortly."

" _It may be best to just go along with him for now...hopefully the others have some sort of plan..._ " Caspian thought, looking back at the formula on the table " _...There, I think I've got it memorized, I should be able to create an antivenom, now_ " he then looked back at the gunslinger and nodded, he started walking towards the door, keeping his hands up as the man followed behind him, pressing the gun into his back...

Back with Seth's group, they were still in the back room of the church, interrogating Dr. Kran "Come on, Doctor, there's gotta be more you can tell us!" Seth shouted, slamming a hand on the table "We just want to know where Caspian is, we're not gonna hurt you..."

"I apologize, I've told you all I know..." Kran replied, not meeting the gazes of the young mages "Some men that claimed to be working for one of the Families approached me and said that they would pay me if I poisoned these people and tried to heal them...they supplied the poison and I did as I was asked, I didn't know what was in it and I didn't question it..."

"So, you sold your soul for these villains?" Rai answered, leaning forward in his seat and resting his elbows on the table "Why, doctor? Why forsake those you would normally help?"

"I...I was desperate..." Kran answered honestly, regretful tears building in his eyes "My clinic had been seeing less and less patients for weeks, weeks became months, months to years...I needed Jewels before I lost _everything!_ "

"That's one crappy excuse!" Callie roared, grabbing Doctor Kran by the collar and pulling him close "You think all that money is worth condemning all these people?!" she let go of him and walked away, turning away from the others, angrily muttering to herself.

Rai got up from his chair and reached out for Callie, but before he could reach her, they heard a pounding on the front door of the church "Hey! Hippogriff punks! We've got your healer out here, if you want him back unharmed, bring Kran out here, we'll trade ya!"

"What?!, They've got Caspian!?" Rai questioned, turning to face the door, he then turned to face the others "Do you think we should believe him?"

"It's the only thing we have to go on..." Seth pointed out, shrugging as he stood from his chair "Besides, even if they are bluffing, they might have some information to use" they then turned to Callie, who had seemed to calm down.

"What? Why are we just standing here?" She said, walking over to Doctor Kran and grabbing the handcuffs, roughly pulling him off of the chair "We need to get Caspian back, don't we?" Seth and Rai smiled confidently and nodded, following her outside, where they were met by multiple hooded mages, one of which was holding onto Caspian, pointing a gun at him.

"Good, didn't think you'd show!" The man with the gun laughed "So, how are we doing this? Send them across at the same time, like in the movies?"

"Give us Caspian first, then will give you Kran" Rai tersely said, pulling Kran towards him "And perhaps you can tell us why you're here in the first place?" his request was only met by hyena-like laughter from the gunman.

"This relationship is moving bit too fast" He joked, holding up the index finger on his free hand "Let's just start with the prisoner exchange, alright?" he grabbed Caspian and pushed him towards the church, he spoke, but this time his voice was cold and serious "Wouldn't want anything unfortunate to happen, would we?"

Rai complied and pushed Kran forward as well, he and the gunman stood behind their respective prisoners, walking to the midpoint between the two groups, as a tense air settled over the village...


	19. Chapter 17

Fairy Tail: Bonds of Silver- Chapter 17: Movements On High!

In the Capital city of Joya, there sat an opulent mansion surrounded by manors of similar quality, but this one stood out even amongst these homes –the outside of the manor was decorated with large white pillars and statues in various poses, even a knight astride a Hippogriff fighting a dragon.

Behind the mansion was a beautiful garden filled with flowers from various countries around Ishgar, in the middle of the garden was a large gazebo, in which sat a giant oak table, surrounding this table were several people dressed in fancy clothing.

These were members of the Merchant Families from Joya, they were gathered around the table to discuss the rumors of Dark Guilds making moves around the country, the first to speak was an older man with long white hair pulled into a ponytail "There have been some disquieting rumors going around recently, is it true that Dark Guilds are becoming more active as of late?"

"It seems to be true..." Said a woman with short red hair, leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms "There was an attack on a small village by Turquesa, apparently it's residents were being taken from their homes by some sort of magic, but it was stopped by a group of mages."

One figure remained silent, simply watching the others discussion as he flipped a coin in his hand, next to him, another older man spoke up "Why didn't we send in the knights? These mages made us look bad by stepping up the way they did!"

"That may be the case, but we cannot simply brush off their efforts just to save face, that could make us look worse" The first old man replied, leaning forward and folding his hands in front of his face "But, you are correct, if we cannot show the people we are capable of handling our problems without relying on Mage Guilds, they might lose faith in us."

Suddenly, the silent figure caught his coin and leaned forward in his chair, revealing that he was a young man with jet-black hair "I wouldn't disregard the Mages if I were you, in fact, they've done more to defend our country than you dusty old men ever had..."

"How dare you!" The old man next to him shouted, turning to face the young man "What do you know of our history?!" He reached out and grabbed him by the collar, forcing him to be face-to-face "Do you know what some of us have done to earn this position? What we've sacrificed!?"

The young man seemed undeterred, smirking at the older man "I'm sure that whatever it was you had to do, you weren't far from your comforts..." he taunted, there was an uneasy air hanging over everyone as the older man angrily glared at him.

He then raised his fist, which suddenly became encased in gold, he then pulled his fist back –but the young man made no attempt to dodge or to escape the man's grasp– the older man then through a punch... "Dorato! That's enough!" The pony-tailed man shouted, as Dorato's fist stopped an inch from the young man's face.

"But Alto, I can't simply sit here and let this _child_ badmouth us!" Dorato yelled, letting go of his opponent and turning his attention to Alto, who had returned to his calm state "He's been nothing but a bother since he joined our fold!"

Alto calmly leaned back in his chair and simply let out an annoyed sigh "That may be the case, but you can't respond to his prodding like a child would, we must be calm and rational when discussing matters of this nature, now, Corvino, did you have something you wanted to add to this conversation?"

"The way I see it, it's a simple solution, really" Corvino answered, meeting Alto's calm and calculating gaze "We should extend an olive branch to these Mages, specifically those of the Silver Hippogriff Guild, they seem to be the ones acting as a bulwark against these threats" he looked around at the various reactions of his companions, which ranged from surprise to anger "If we approach them as allies, then the people may see their actions as something done on our behalf, and we won't even have to dirty our hands."

The other three were silent for a while, before Dorato finally broke the silence "That _does_ sound like a reasonable plan, but how can you be so certain that these mages would even agree to an alliance in the first place?"

"Well, we just need the right bait for them" Corvino responded, sweeping his hand to the side "Every person in this world has their price" suddenly, three holographic images appeared in front of him, one of them was a briefcase full of Jewels "Whether it be money..." the second was an assortment of magic items "Artifacts of power..." and the third was a heart "Or perhaps something more... _base_."

Alto was silent, considering Corvino's words "Very well, Corvino, if you believe that this plan will succeed, then we'll attempt to ally with the Mages, you shall approach the leaders of the guilds and inform them of our intentions, I suggest starting with Silver Hippogriff, since you're convinced they are the most important."

"Alright, I'm glad we could come to an agreement" Corvino said, standing from his chair "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll begin preparations right away..." his entire body suddenly turned into darkness and he sank into the ground, leaving the others on their own.

Though she had been silent for most of the proceedings, the red-haired woman decided that the question she had burning inside her must be answered "Who...is he?" she asked, earning confused glances from the two older men with her.

"My apologies, Robin, you are quite new to our group as well" Alto answered, clearing his throat and turning to the young woman "That was Corvino Spettro, the 35th head of the Spettro family, he's recently been put in charge of his family after his parents had passed" Alto explained as Robin looked at the place where Corvino had once sat.

"I see, does he truly believe we can get the mages to work for us so easily?" She asked, turning her attention back to Alto "From my experience with Mage Guilds, they seem to be quite an unruly bunch, I'm not so sure they'll be easily brought to heel..."

"Loathe as I am to admit it, Corvino has inherited his father's eye for reading people, so if there is anyone who would be able to find a person's 'price' it would be him" Dorato admitted, slowly shaking his head "Though I too have my own reservations about entrusting this entire plan to him."

"He may be young and speak his mind too often, but I have faith that Corvino has Joya's best interest at heart" Alto interjected, defending Corvino "His family has helped this country through some rough times, it may be hard for us to do this, but we must trust in him to see it through."

Unbeknownst to the three still in the Gazebo, their conversation were overheard by a masked figure, hiding within the foliage of the garden, unseen by the knights that patrolled the area, though they were soon take by surprise when someone behind them cleared their throat in an attempt to get their attention.

The figure whipped around and drew a small blade from their sleeve, poising it to strike, but they soon sheathed it once again when they realized that it was Corvino, the figure dropped to one knee and brought their arm across their chest, saluting the Noble.

"Figured I'd find you here..." Corvino calmly replied, gesturing for the masked person to stand up "Did we have any party-crashers?" he asked, the figure simply shook their head, still not saying a word "Silent as ever, huh? Guess I'll never have to worry about you leaking information, anyway, I have a new assignment for you."

The figure lifted their head, seemingly eager to learn what new assignment their lord had for them "Alright, I'm gonna need you to do some scouting for me, head to the town of Turquesa, I need as much information about the Silver Hippogriff guild as you can dig up, I know this goes without saying, but make sure you aren't caught, we can't afford to let them know we're involved until we're ready to approach them, understood?"

His silent companion simply nodded and vanished in a burst of ash, leaving a small scorch mark where they had been standing, Corvino stayed by the plants, taking a moment to drink in their scents "Ah~ What a calming fragrance..." suddenly, his face changed, his once calm expression replaced by one of both exasperation and annoyance "I'll need more of this if I have to deal with these _fools_ once more...and now I have to associate with commoners!? No matter, our goals are worth these indignities..."

Shadows covered his body once again and he disappeared from the garden, leaving an ominous air as he left, sending chills through anyone who passed through the garden...

Meanwhile, in the skies above Joya, The airship carrying Dawn and Esmond continued it's lazy journey toward Topacio, while Esmond slept calmly beside her, Dawn decided to watch the passing landscape below them, marveling at the beautiful forests beneath them " _It's been a while since I've traveled by Airship, everything always seems so different up here..._ "

Dawn continued to look out the window, watching as they passed over a plain and a pack of animals ran across it, she was taking in their majesty when she realized it seemed that they were running away from something, her suspicions were proven correct when what seemed to be a train burst out from behind a line of trees.

" _A train!? But there aren't any tracks down there!_ " Dawn thought, reaching over and tapping Esmond on the shoulder, trying to wake him up, she turned to him and started to shake him slightly "Esmond, wake up, I need you to see this!" she whispered, not wanting to cause a panic amongst the passengers.

Esmond slowly woke up and turned to her "Dawn? What's wrong, did we land?" he asked, groaning and rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he noticed that Dawn had turned back to the window, no longer facing him "What? Is something out there?" he shuffled towards the window and looked out of it, trying to figure out what she was looking at.

"B-But...it was right there...where could it have gone?!" Dawn asked herself, scanning the ground beneath them, but the train had somehow vanished "Did you see it, Esmond?" She questioned, facing Esmond, who had returned to his seat.

"Those deer down there? Yeah, I saw them" Esmond replied, smiling at her "I didn't think you'd still get excited about animals, but I guess they are pretty nice to look at" Dawn had an incredulous look on her face, but before she could say anything, the PA on the airship crackled to life.

" **Attention passengers, we will be arriving in Topacio shortly, please, gather your belongings and make sure you leave don't leave anything behind** " The announcement said, the passengers began shifting in their seats, making sure they had everything in order.

As Esmond grabbed his bag, he looked back at Dawn, who was still looking out the window, a look of confusion on her face "Hey, you okay? Did you see something out there?" Dawn turned away from the window and was silent for a moment, before shaking the thought out of her head and grabbing her bags.

"I'll tell you when we land, I feel like this may be something we should discuss with the others..." She said as the airship began to descend, once it was finally docked, everyone on the ship began disembarking in a calm manner –though some impatient shoving did occur– they were soon on the ground once again and were in awe at what they saw.

Topacio was filled with tall, pure white buildings with smaller, similar colored buildings in between them, and there was a bustling marketplace in the middle of the city, with people going about there business in the market.

"Alright, so, how are we going to meet up with the others?" Esmond asked, looking out into the city from the airship dock "I remember Master Emilia said something about meeting them in a hotel by the marketplace, but I'm guessing there'll be a couple hotels by such a busy area, which one should we check first?"

"Hm, perhaps we they'll be waiting in the lobby?" Dawn suggested as the two of them left the dock "We should be on the lookout for people with Guild Marks, do you know what Kobold Fang and Stone Titan's marks look like?" Esmond simply nodded and the two of them made their way to the market.

They gently pushed their way through the growing throng of people, eventually making it to the market, where they were almost immediately accosted by shopkeepers trying to sell them their wares, ranging from a weapons merchant selling swords (Which Dawn was slightly interested in, but they had no time to waste) to food vendors trying to sell them strange smelling dishes.

They managed to slip away from the overzealous salespeople and eventually found what looked to be a hotel, outside of which were three people, though Dawn soon realized one seemed to simply be a suit of armor, she looked at the two others, they were two young mages, one with white hair that reminded her of Seth, and the other was a girl with purple hair.

"I'm telling you Ella, I saw this armor move!" The boy shouted, pointing at the armor, which stood completely still "Something's fishy about it, I don't think we can trust it!" the girl calmly put a hand on her friends shoulder, trying to calm him down.

"Come on, Julian, it's just a suit of armor, we should get inside and wait for the other mages" The girl replied, catching Dawn's attention, she looked closer at the two and noticed that they had the mark of Kobold Fang on their hands.

She nudged Esmond in the ribs and pointed out the two "They're part of Kobold Fang, do you think they're waiting for us?"

"Only one way to find out, right?" Esmond replied, walking up to the two mages "Hey, are you two the ones we're supposed to meet?" the two young mages turned toward Esmond and Dawn, a bit apprehensive at first, but they were soon calmed when they decided that they weren't a threat.

"You from Silver Hippogriff or Stone Titan?" Julian asked, reaching out to shake their hands, but before they could introduce themselves, they heard something rattling behind them, all four of them turned to see that the had begun shaking.

"Is it...alive?!" Dawn questioned as one arm of the statue began to reach out towards them and...

The door to the hotel opened and a young man with purple hair peeked out "Oh, hello, are you the mages we were waiting for?" he looked at their shocked expressions and couldn't help but laugh "Ferrus, did you scare them?"

The armor turned towards the young man and, to the shock of the others, spoke "I was resting out here while we waited for the other mages, I suppose they were shocked by my sudden movements" the armor said, turning back to the others and respectfully bowing "I apologize if I frightened you, My name is Ferrus Steelhands, Mage of the Stone Titan Guild."

"And you may call me Sorain, I too, am a mage of Stone Titan" The purple-haired man introduced, stepping out from the hotel "It's a pleasure to finally meet all of you."

The other mages introduced themselves, Dawn and Esmond went first, and then the Kobold Fang mages, known as Julian Huntermoon and Stella Auguste, went next, with the introductions out of the way, the mages entered the hotel and went upstairs to the room Sorain had rented.

"Now that we have all been introduced, I suppose we should get to planning, correct?" Sorain said, sitting on one of the beds and pulling a map out of his backpack "I don't think any of us have been to Jaspe, so this will be uncharted territory for all of us, we should plan carefully" The mages gathered around the map, going over all of the potential strategies that they could use for their raid...

THE END!

A.N: Sorry if that kinda fell apart at the end, my internet has been kinda spotty today, so I kinda rushed at the end in order to get it out before my internet cut out again, but I hope you all enjoy nonetheless!


	20. Chapter 18

Fairy Tail- Bonds of Silver: Chapter 18: Driving out the Threat!

 _ **A.N: So, real quick, I'm sorry for the long break last week, but I had a good reason: I burned my hand trying to cook and I had to let it heal, don't worry though, it wasn't that bad I took care of it quick enough, but it still hurt for a while so I couldn't do much.**_

 _ **There's still some pain so this one might be shorter than normal as to not make it worse, but I hope you all still enjoy!**_

Back with Seth's group, a tense air had fallen over the village as both sides stood, observing one another as if waiting for the first move to be made "Well? Are you gonna give us Kran? Or am I gonna have to...coerce you?" the gunman asked, pointing his gun at one of Caspian's legs and cocking it "You'll be able to heal it, so why should you worry about any damage?"

Rai simply scoffed and started pushing Doctor Kran forward, causing him to stumble towards the gunner "P-Please, Vayne, I know I failed you, but these people have suffered enough!" Kran pleaded, looking at the white-haired man with fearful eyes "Let the young man and I'll come quietly!"

As he said this, he quickly looked back at Rai, looking him dead in the eyes, as if trying to confirm the young man heard the attackers name, Rai simply nodded as the man now known as Vayne let out an annoyed sigh.

"Doctor, doctor, doctor, what did I tell you about using names?" He asked, shaking his head as he frowned, he then looked over at a man next to him, he wore a komuso basket on his head and was dressed in a dark green Haori jacket over a suit of lamellar armor and hakama pants of a similar color "Kojuro...you know what to do..."

The basket-headed man nodded and several kunai knives appeared in his hand "Forgive me, Doctor Kran" he poised the daggers for throwing "But, you knew the consequences for betrayal" Dr. Kran seemed fearful at first, but he soon straightened his body and smiled calmly.

"Don't apologize, Mr. Sugawara" He said, looking back at Seth, Rai and Callie "If anything, I'm the one who should be apologizing, and I know that my death won't make up for anything I've done, but it may be a start, don't you think?"

The Hippogriff mages were silent, Rai looked on stoically, while Seth and Callie gritted their teeth and watched, Seth opened his mouth to say something, but laughter broke out "Quite a show of honor and nobility!" Vayne laughed, before his face turned serious once again "Honor means _nothing._ "

Vayne nodded at Kojuro and the ninja threw his knives at Kran, who simply stood by with a placid smile on his face " _I have made many mistakes in my_ _life_ _, please forgive me for the mess you now have to clean, young mages..._ _and_ _Siglind...could you forgive your fool of a father?_ " he closed his eyes and waited for the knives to connect.

But they never did...Dr. Kran opened his eyes and saw that Seth was now standing in front of him, with all three of the Kunai clenched between his teeth, he bit down on the blades and broke them, chewing the remnants of the weapons "What the hell is wrong with you?!" he yelled, glaring at Vayne.

"Well well well...I guess the rumors of a God Slayer being here was true" Vayne said, intrigued at Seth's interference, he then smirked and pointed the gun at Caspian "You'll make a way better prize than this scrawny punk..." he was about to pull the trigger, but before he could, Caspian whipped around and placed his hand on Vayne's chest "What are you doing!?"

" **Heart Slump!** " Caspian shouted, keeping his hand firmly on Vayne's chest as his magic pulsed in his hand, sending waves through his opponents body.

Vayne felt his heartbeat gradually slow as he struggled against the younger man's grasp, finding it impossible to fight him off "Get...off of...meee..." he said his speech slurring as he stopped fighting and dropped his gun, slumping to the ground.

"The boss is down! Get 'em!" One of the other mages shouted, the rest of the mages yelled, starting to charge towards Caspian, before they could reach him however, a flash of lightning ripped through the crowd and knocked them backwards, once the dust had cleared, Caspian saw that it was Rai.

"Glad you're unharmed, Cas" Rai calmly said, electricity still dancing on his body "But it doesn't seem like we're out of the woods yet" he said, pointing at the remaining enemies, including Kojuro, Rai then looked at Seth and Callie "Alright guys, you can go wild now!"

Kojuro, seeing that Rai had left himself open, summoned a chokuto sword and starting charging towards Rai "I don't think so, Basket-head!" he heard someone shot, he looked towards the voice and saw that Seth was leaping towards him, his fist morphing into a sword blade.

Seth thrust the blade forward and tried to stab Kojuro, but before he could land the blow, Kojuro suddenly vanished, seemingly turning into mist, he reformed behind Callie and pressed his blade into her neck "If you value the life of your comrades, God Slayer, don't move!"

Instead of reacting with shock, Seth smiled and laughed "I don't think I've got anything to worry about!" he crossed his arms and simply watched "Let him have it, Callie!" Kojuro was confused at first, thinking it was some sort of bluff, but he suddenly felt Callie elbow him in the ribs and sending him flying backwards, crashing into the church behind them.

"I'm not some easy target!" Callie taunted, cracking her knuckles "I'll handle this guy, you take care of the others, got it?" She shouted to Seth over the chaos before turning her attention back to Kojuro "Let's dance, Basket!"

Kojuro slowly pushed himself off of the wall and pointed his chokuto at Callie "I grow tired of that nickname..." his body then started turning into mist, which flew towards Callie, once the mist reached her, she felt numerous blades beginning to cut her " _ **Secret Mist Art: Kamu Kiri!**_ " (Biting Mist) Callie brought her arms up in defense as she tried to figure out how to counter.

" _Come on...there's gotta be an opening!..._ " Callie thought as she took more and more damage " _Wait...if he's using a sword...than that means!_ " she watched the glinting of the blade as it flew through the mist "There!" She yelled, reaching forward and grabbing the sword by the blade, despite the pain, she gripped it tighter and pulled "Get the hell out here!" She roared, pulling Kojuro out of the mist and slamming him into the ground.

"You are quite formidable..." Kojuro congratulated, looking at Callie's body, covered in cuts that were still bleeding, he calmly stood and readied his blade once again "But I cannot give you mercy, forgive me."

Callie ignored the cuts marring her entire body, even though they burned in the open air "Don't worry, I wouldn't have it any other way..." she got into a battle stance and observed the situation, Seth, Rai and Caspian were fighting off the hooded mages, holding the line as best as they could.

"I shall end this in a single stroke..." Kojuro said, holding the sword in front of him, he charged towards Callie and slashed at her, but he felt something press into his stomach, he looked down and saw Callie had thrown a gravity-enhanced punch into his gut "Well...done" he congratulated as he fell to the ground.

"Your not bad, either..." Callie said, watching as Kojuro fell unconscious, once she was certain that he was down, she turned her attention to the rest of the fighting and ran to help her allies, but unbeknownst to both of them, Vayne was slowly recovering from Caspian's spell.

"Damn it...why the hell are they fighting so hard?!" He questioned, watching as the young mages sent his underlings scrambling, he tried to slip away "Screw this...this isn't worth it..." before he could get away, he felt something wrap around his ankle, he looked down and saw that it was a long, iron chain.

"Where do you think you're going?!" Seth questioned, pulling Vayne back into the melee "No way I'm gonna let you slip away!" he then noticed a nearby tree and ran up to it, tossing the other end of the chain onto a low hanging branch, pulling Vayne into the air.

Seth turned away from Vayne and noticed that the other had finished off the last of the underlings, those who hadn't been knocked unconscious ran away, leaving Vayne and Kojuro as the only enemies left in the village.

"Heh, guess that's what we get for trusting small-time mercenaries..." Vayne scoffed, watching the hooded mages disappear over the horizon "Shoulda hired more gutsy fighters, like you guys!" he joked, not trying to fight back "So, how's this gonna go? You gonna ransom me to my bosses? Leave me for the beasts?"

Caspian, Rai, and Callie approached the tree, glaring at the hanging man, Caspian was the first of the mages to speak "The cure...where is the cure?" though his response was serious, Vayne couldn't help but laugh.

"Seriously?!" He questioned, placing his hand on his face "Why do you give a damn about this village?!" Caspian didn't answer and approached Vayne, grabbing him by the collar and pulling him forward, simply glaring at the villain "Tch...I don't know, I think my boss has it."

To everyone's surprise, a new voice spoke up "He lies..." they looked to where the voice came from and saw that it was Kojuro, finally recovering from the fight with Callie "His necklace...holds the cure..."

Vayne let out a wry laugh, pulling a necklace out of his robes "Guess I can't trust _anyone_ " he dropped the necklace onto the ground "Oops..." he mockingly said as Caspian stooped over and picked up the necklace, which was actually hollow, containing a small slip of paper.

"This should be the cure, with any luck, the ingredients should be around here, maybe back at their hideout?" Caspian said to himself, he then turned around and started scanning the nearby buildings "Dr. Kran? Are you there?"

The doctor reluctantly poked his head out from behind a building "I...am here, I suppose it's my turn to face retribution, is it?" he solemnly approached the group of mages and lowered his head, waiting for their reply.

"Look at this!" Caspian said, pushing the slip of paper towards Dr. Kran "We can cure this! We have to find the ingredients!" before Dr. Kran could reply, Caspian walked past him, heading towards the hideout and gesturing for the others to follow him.

"You...trust me to fix this?" Kran questioned, looking at Rai "Even after all I've done?"

"Well, _I_ might not trust you" Rai answered, placing a hand on Dr. Kran's shoulder "But _Caspian_ seems to trust you, so that's good enough for me" Rai, Seth and Callie moved past him as well, turning around to make sure he was following.

"Come on, Doc, you wanna make this right, don't you?" Seth asked, placing his arms behind his head "This is your chance!" Doctor Kran stood in shocked silence for a moment, before finally smiling and following the mages...

"H-Hey! What about me?!" Vayne yelled, thrashing against the chain "You can't just leave me here!"

"We have lost, it's best to accept that..." Kojuro said, calmly resting against the tree "Struggling will only make things worse" Vayne seemed not to hear him, continuing to fight against the chain...

THE END!

A.N: Again, sorry about the shortness of this chapter, but I hope you enjoy, and I hope the somewhat comedic ending doesn't go against the tone of the rest of the chapter.


	21. Update 2

Bonds of Silver Update/Call to Arms!

 **Hey Guys! So I've got a small update to make...it's been a long time coming, but...I'm getting a hardware upgrade! For a while now, my computer has been crashing and refusing to connect to the internet, things like that, as well as the casing along the side of the monitor was starting to crack.**

 **But I've finally saved up enough to buy a new laptop! It should be coming later in the week, so I won't be able to write while I transfer files and things like that, but that's beside the point, while I wait for the new one to arrive, I have something I need to finally get around to asking…**

 **(Before I start this, I need to apologize to Elegant Soul, who's been reminding me to make this announcement for a long time now, I'm sorry I kept forgetting and probably driving you nuts…) Anyway, as some of you may have noticed: I now put the character sheet for Bonds of Silver on my profile, and the other Guilds are kinda lacking, so here's my request; if any of you are planning on submitting characters, make them part of the other guilds, since I think Silver Hippogriff is full.**

 **So yeah! I hope you guys understand that I won't be able to write today, but I won't leave this without an update for long!**


	22. Chapter 19

Fairy Tail- Bonds of Silver: Chapter 19- The Mission Begins!

(Before we begin, sorry I didn't upload yesterday, I completely forgot about Memorial Day, but I should be able to get back to a normal schedule soon enough!)

Back in Topacio, Dawn's group had just finished planning their raid, feeling confident in their strategy, they exited the hotel "First things first, we should find a place where we can rent a Four-Wheeler" Sorain decided, the others nodded in agreement and went into the city.

Unbeknownst to them, they were being observed by a cloaked figure, hiding in a crowd of people "They are making their move, should I return to base or continue pursuing?" they whispered into a small lacrima on their wrist.

"Keep following them, we can't risk the chance of losing them" a feminine voice answered from the other side "And if you are discovered, do not fight them, distract them long enough so that we can complete our transaction, and if you are captured..." she fell silent for a moment before answering, a dark tone in her voice "...Your life is forfeit, remember this."

"...Yes, Miss Calypso" The hooded man replied, deactivating the Lacrima, he looked back at the mages and noticed that they were walking away, he made sure they weren't aware of his presence and went after them, ducking in and out of groups of people as he went " _Are they truly a threat? They don't seem that strong._ "

Dawn's group had arrived at a vehicle rental shop, and as Esmond spoke with the shopkeeper, Stella kept looking behind her "Something up, Ella?" Julian asked, folding his arms behind his head.

Stella turned around with a slightly concerned look on her face "I'm not sure, but I keep getting the feeling as if someone is watching us...maybe I'm just nervous" She responded, looking behind her once again, but there wasn't anyone behind them.

"You got nothing to worry about!" Julian said, throwing his arm around her shoulders and walking up to the others "With a team like this, we'll be done in no time!" he tried to reassure her, but she kept glancing back "Would it help if I kept an eye out, too?"

"Thank you, Julian, but I think it's just nerves" Stella answered, smiling "We shouldn't keep the others waiting, come on" She gently took his arm off of her and walked forward, waiting for him to follow, once they were gone, the hooded figure slipped into the shop behind them.

Julian and Stella joined up with the others as the Shopkeeper kept trying to sell them on a more expensive model of Four-Wheeler, it was an opulent vehicle, painted gold and silver, with large, jewels decorating it "Now, you see, this one here uses lacrima charged with magic power, so the driver doesn't have to use as much of their own, and it doesn't sacrifice any speed, something like this would be sure to get you where you need to go, with enough energy left to do whatever it is you came to do!"

"No, that's quite alright, we just need something that will take us to Jaspe" Esmond replied, forcing himself to smile, though the annoyance was clear on his face "Nothing fancy, is that alright?" the shopkeeper had a momentary look of anger, but it quickly faded and he smiled once again.

"I've got just the thing! Please follow me!" He said, gesturing for the group to follow him "I'm sure we can find something!" he clapped his hands together and turned away from the mages, muttering under his breath "...damn cheapskates, how's a guy supposed to run a business if they aren't willing to splurge?!"

"Should we be really following this man?" Ferrus asked, pointing at the shopkeeper "He seems quite intent on swindling us out of our Jewels..." The shopkeeper whipped around, profusely sweating and smiling nervously.

"N-No, That's not true at all! I'm just trying to find the perfect vehicle for you...lovely mages!" He lied, letting out a laugh, before he cleared his throat and turned away once again, holding up one finger "I'll be sure to find you something we can both be happy with!"

"You'll have to forgive him, he's not good with people" Sorain apologized, placing a hand on Ferrus' shoulder "I'm sure he didn't mean to accuse you of anything!" the shopkeeper simply laughed it off and showed the group more of his vehicles.

As they browsed, the hooded man hid behind a wall and eavesdropped on them " _A Machias? That could make things harder,_ _I should report this to Miss Calypso..._ " he took out a small surveillance lacrima and began recording the mages, making certain they were still unaware of his pursuit.

"And this is our most basic model..." The shopkeeper spoke up, causing the hooded man to take cover once again "Everyone knows it, it's quite reliable, but it doesn't really have anything special to put it ahead of the others, are you sure this is the one you want?"

"This one will do quite nicely, after all, we just need something to get us to Jaspe" Dawn replied, running her hand along the side of the vehicle "How much is this going to cost us?" the man fell silent for a moment as he pulled a notepad out of his pocket and started writing things down.

"Let's see...only a rental...not planning on keeping it for more than a week...basic model…" He muttered to himself, wildly scribbling things down "That should be about...30000 Jewels, now, which of you will be paying for this?" Everyone silently turned towards Esmond, who could only sigh as he reached into his pocket.

"The things I do for this alliance..." he joked, handing the man a stack of bills "So, do we drive it out of here, or…?"

"Oh, no no, nothing of the sort!" The shopkeeper answered, waving his hands "I'll have it delivered to out garage on the outskirts of town, now, as your heading to Jaspe, you'll want to go to the Western Gate, there should be some men waiting outside a two-floor garage, show them your receipt and they'll bring your vehicle right out!"

He lead the group back to the front of the shop as he rang them up, he glanced up at the group and noticed the hooded man standing behind them "Oh, I didn't realize there were seven of you, I'm sorry to say, but that may cost extra."

"Seven? There shouldn't be…" Dawn said, confused, she turned around and saw that there was no one behind them, she then turned back to the shopkeeper, who was just as confused as she was "Are you alright, sir?"

The shopkeeper kept his eyes locked on the place where the hooded man once stood " _But...someone was..._ " He shook his head and cleared his throat "I'm sorry, I must be seeing things, too many all-nighters, you know?" he tried to push the thought to the back of his mind as he finished up the transaction, once everything was set up, Dawn's group left the building and the shopkeeper followed them out, counting in his head as they went.

" _Six...was it always six?_ " he thought to himself, scratching his head as the mages disappeared into the crowd "That's strange, who was that hooded per-" He found himself cut off as a spear-like point was pressed into his neck, not enough to penetrate, but enough for the threat to come across; he tried to look behind him, but when he did, the point was pressed more into his neck "Wh-What do you want?!" he fearfully questioned.

"I need to go after them, you _will_ give me your best vehicle" The figure whispered, making sure that the people outside were unaware of what was going on "And you _will_ waive the fee, won't you?" He asked, prodding the shopkeeper's neck, when he whimpered his agreement, the spear retracted and turned back into a simple cloth, the figure then approached the gold and silver vehicle "This one will do nicely, assuming you weren't... _lying_ about it's capabilities?"

"No, I swear! It's our best model!" The shopkeeper protested, clasping his hands together "Please, you can have it, just let me go, I won't even tell anyone you were here!" The figure was silently considering what the man said.

"Very well, I shall let you go..." He said, causing the shopkeeper to let out a sigh of relief, but suddenly, cloth-like tendrils wrapped around him and lifted him into the air "...But know that if I find out you broke our arrangement, I will return, and I will _sew your lips shut_ " he dropped the man and strutted towards the door "I will be waiting by the garage, tell your workers to expect me..."

"O-Of Course, sir!" The shopkeeper gasped, placing a hand on his chest, he watched as the hooded man left the store, he stayed on the ground for a while, weighing his options " _Should I try and warn those mages? B-But...what would he do to me if he found out?_ " he shakily pushed off the ground and ran behind the counter, rummaging through the assorted items underneath it, until he finally pulled out a communication lacrima…

Meanwhile, Dawn and her group finally reached the western gate, they saw the garage that the shopkeeper mentioned and approached it, finding a small window with a desk behind it, Dawn reached out and rang the bell that rested outside the window, and soon a large man appeared from within and greeted them with a broad smile.

"What can I help you with today, youngsters?" he asked, placing his fists on his hips, Esmond approached the window and slid the receipt through the opening, the man grabbed it and quietly read the order to himself "Ah, gotcha, gotta respect the classics, right?" He disappeared into the office and the group heard a door open and close, after a while, the garage door slowly opened and their vehicle slowly drove out, with the desk worker driving it "Here you go!, make sure not to wreck it, alright?"

"Thank you, sir, we'll be sure to bring it back in tact" Esmond promised, climbing up to the driver's seat while everyone else climbed into the back "Everyone on board?" He asked, turning to face the carriage.

"All present and accounted for!" Sorain answered after doing a quick headcount "If you need to switch out, just ask" Esmond agreed and the vehicle began to move, slowly getting exiting the town, soon picking up speed as they hit the open road "This may take a while, perhaps we should go over the plan once more? Just to make sure we're all on the same page?"

"We sneak in, find out where they're keeping the prisoners, and knock out anyone who gets in our way, right?" Julian said, chopping at the air while making faux-ninja noises, making Stella and Sorain laugh, even Dawn couldn't help but giggle as well, but Ferrus simply stared, confused by the young man's display.

"To put it in layman's terms, I suppose" Sorain replied, pulling a rolled up scroll out of his bag and unrolling it on the floor in front of him, displaying a map of Jaspe "Jaspe isn't a large town, so there shouldn't be many places for them to hide these people, we may have to question the town's people, but try to be subtle about it, there may be a chance that these smugglers have agents hidden around the village, if they find out we're here, then they may have a chance to escape.

He then pulled out several small figurines from his bag, six to represent the members of the alliance "Once we figure out where they are being kept, we'll go to their hideout and prepare for combat –if it arises" He began arranging the figures on the map "Julian and Ferrus shall be the Vanguard, their magic should be able to break up any initial resistance we may face, Esmond and Stella will be in the middle, using support spells to increase or abilities, and Dawn and Myself will be the Rear Guard, Protecting the Support team from attacks from behind, as well as picking off any stragglers that the Vanguard leaves behind" He took one more figure out from his bag, this one looked like a large gargoyle "We don't know what enemies we'll face, so we should proceed with caution" He said, placing the figure in front of the other six figurines "If we're calm and efficient, we shouldn't have any issues getting through this, everyone understand?"

Everyone nodded in agreement as Sorain picked up the figures and rolled the map back up, with the plan in mind, the group in the carriage fell silent, mentally preparing themselves for the operation, Dawn was looking out the window of the carriage as she thought, though something caught her eye "Esmond, can you pull over for a minute?" She asked, calling out to Esmond.

"What's wrong, motion sick?" He joked as he slowed the vehicle down, once it was slow enough, Dawn opened the door and jumped out "Hey! Wait till the ride comes to a complete stop!" he watched as she ran over to something on the side of the road.

"Is she okay?" Sorain asked, climbing out of the carriage as well, followed by Ferrus and the others "This is quite an odd place to want to stop..."

"Perhaps she needed to take a 'pit stop' as you humans call it?" Ferrus theorized, earning an exasperated laugh from Sorain "What?" Ferrus asked, sounding a bit annoyed at Sorain's laughter.

"Everyone, come look at this!" Dawn called, confusing the others further, they looked from one another and approached where Dawn had indicated "Look at this..." she pointed at the ground, they looked to where she gestured and were surprised by what they saw…

"Are those...Vehicle treads?" Stella asked, looking at the marks in the ground "They seem too big to be from a standard magic vehicle, what could have caused them?" she crouched down and touched the markings "How long ago were these made?"

"I knew I saw something..." Dawn confirmed, mostly to herself, she looked back at the others, a serious look on her face "Everyone...I don't think the base we're looking for is a building, while Esmond and I were flying here, I saw something that looked like a train running across the land, no track in sight."

Sorain took in the information she was giving him, closing his eye and placing a hand on his chin "This may change our plans...let's continue on to Jaspe for now, do you still want to drive, Esmond?"

"I should be good for a while, let's get going" Esmond replied, jerking his thumb back towards the Four-Wheeler, the others nodded and they went back to the vehicle, wondering just what they were up against…

Back in Topacio, the hooded man had made it to the garage, arguing with the man behind the desk "I need that vehicle _now_! Why do you delay me?!" He yelled, pointing a finger at the man, who tried to keep his calm, but was clearly reaching his wits end with this man.

"I already told you sir, we only have one of those models left, and it's being repaired right now, you'll have to wait for a while, I'm sorry" The clerk apologized, letting out an annoyed sigh "If you want, you can spend your time in the marketplace, we'll send someone to get you when it's ready..."

"I don't believe you understand..." The hooded man said, his voice now threateningly low "...I will not be delayed any longer..." his clothes seemed to come alive, bending and twisting like snakes, they coiled into long spears and pierced the window in front of him, scaring the clerk backwards "You will bring it to, now..."

"Y-Yes sir!" The clerk cried, running out of the office, once he was gone, the hooded man's clothes returned to normal and he pulled his communications lacrima.

"Sarto, do you have any updates?" Calypso asked, her words had an underlying venom to them "You know I hate it when people _fail_..."

"Forgive me, Miss Calypso, I hit one small snag..." Sarto replied, watching as the garage door opened and the vehicle rolled out "But I'll be getting back on track soon enough, don't you worry..." he said, deactivating the lacrima and putting it back in his pocket, jumping up the driver's seat and kicking the clerk out of it, sending him crashing to the ground and quickly driving out of the city, sending people scattering as he drove down the road…

THE END!

A.N: Sorry this took a little longer than normal, I'm still getting used to the new keyboard, as it's much smaller than my previous one, but I hope you enjoy nonetheless!


	23. Chapter 20

Fairy Tail: Bonds of Silver- Chapter 20: The Long-Awaited Sunrise!

(So, real quick, some of you might have noticed that I have put a poll on my profile about whether or not to redo Ad Astra, but I think I'll be taking it down soon, given how contentious SYOC stories have become on this site, I don't think I'll be posting anymore for a while, at least until everything calms down, so if I were to remake it, I'll probably post it to a different site –also, sorry for not posting yesterday, I was celebrating my Grandma's birthday!)

Back with Seth's group, he was waiting outside of Vayne's hideout alongside Callie and Rai, there was an air of tense silence as they waited for Dr. Kran and Caspian to return, Callie was the first to break the silence; looking into the woods, trying to find some sort of movement.

"Can we really trust him, I mean, he did help poison all of those people" She asked, trying to find anything in the darkness "He might try and make things worse!" Rai approached her and put his hand on her shoulder, causing her to turn and face him.

"I wouldn't be too worried about, Callie" He said, smiling warmly at her "He seems to truly regret what he's done, we should give him a chance to set things right, don't you think?" She didn't reply right away, simply turning back to the forest, still unable to see anything "They must have gone into deeper in, just relax."

"Yeah, Callie, we've got nothing to worry about!" Seth chimed in, finding a large rock and sitting on top of it "If Kran tried anything, all three of us would probably be more than enough to take him down, but I doubt it'll come to that anyway" he placed his hands behind his head and laid down on the rock "They'll be back in no time, so let's kick back, we've probably earned it!"

Callie simply sighed and rested against the building, crossing her arms and staring at the ground "I guess you're right...it's just kinda hard to trust him, y'know?" she looked back up at Seth and Rai, finally smiling "But...I'll give him a chance, I guess!" at that moment, there was movement from the forest and the three mages looked towards, waiting to see if it was Caspian or Doctor Kran...

...A chill went through Seth's body as the movement grew louder and closer, he leaped off of the rock and turned his hand into a sword blade "Guys, get back! Something's up here!" Callie and Rai exchanged glances as they trusted Seth and prepared themselves for whatever was approaching them.

The movement finally stopped as a hooded figure stepped out of the woods, the three mages tried to scan the figure for any sort of way to identify him, but his features were obscured by the layers of robes "Who are you?" Rai simply asked as electricity surged up his arm "Are you part of Vayne's crew?" the figure didn't reply, raising his hand, causing a huge gust of wind to suddenly erupt forward and knock them into the building behind them, not enough to knock them out or destroy the building, but enough to rattle them.

"Hear me, young mages, cease your meddling..." The figure spoke, his voice low and booming as he ordered the mages "If you continue down this road, it will lead you to your own ruin" with his warning given, he turned away from them and began to walk away "You bring people hope, do not take it away from them with this foolish investigation."

Seth reached out to the man, he tried to get up, but he was still weakened from the attack "W-Wait, what the hell do you mean?!" he finally found his footing and charged towards the man and reached out to him, the man whipped around and sent out another gust of wind, but Seth had already grabbed onto his robe "I'm not...letting...go!" the winds grew stronger and Seth struggled to keep his grip, he was finally blown backwards, sending him tumbling across the ground.

"This is not the time for fighting, young Slayer" The figure said, turning back to the woods and walking away, leaving the three mages alone to gather their thoughts, but before he vanished; he left them with one more crypt warning "Your skills will be needed when the time comes, hone them, or you will lose all you hold close..."

Once they were certain he was gone, Rai and Callie rushed over to Seth to see if he was alright "Seth, you okay? That looked like it hurt!" Callie asked, rolling the white-haired young man over, he didn't answer and instead simply raised his fist, opening it to reveal a scrap of cloth "What's that? Did you tear it off that guy?" she took the cloth from his hand and examined it, it was a simple scrap of black cloth with a white silhouette of a nude woman on it, everything about her seemed normal, except that one leg was copper colored as opposed to the pale white of the rest of the silhouette "Is this a...guild symbol?"

"May I see it?" Rai asked, Callie handed the cloth to him and he looked it over "Hmm...I don't recognize this emblem, perhaps we can take it back to the Guild Hall, maybe someone there will know what guild this belongs to, perhaps Master Emilia will know?" as they talked, Seth finally sat up, glaring at the spot where the man once stood.

"I don't care what guild that guy is part of..." He rasped, recovering his strength "I want to know

what he was talking about, losing what I 'hold close'..." he questioned, before he could say anything else, they heard some more people approaching, they looked up and felt themselves relax when they saw it was Dr. Kran and Caspian, though they looked quite concerned.

"We heard something come from this direction, were you attacked?" Caspian asked, quickly walking over to his guildmates, he looked at all three of them and noticed that they were winded, but were otherwise unharmed "What happened here?"

Seth tried to figure out some sort of lie, not wanting to worry Caspian, but before he could say anything; Rai spoke up "A hooded man showed up, he gave us a warning, telling us to not investigate any further" he then showed the scrap of cloth to Caspian "Seth managed to take this off of him, do either of you recognize this symbol?"

Caspian looked at the symbol, paying close attention to the different colored leg "No, it doesn't look familiar, though I'm sure we'll find someone who recognizes it, perhaps someone in town knows what it is?" he then shook his head and smiled "But, that's not important right now, we found the reagents for the cure! We need to start making a cure right away!" he ran past the others and into the building, no doubt immediately starting on his experimentation.

"He seems quite enthusiastic, it's good to see that these events haven't affected him too much" Doctor Kran said, smiling, but he glanced down at the emblem in Rai's hand and his smile faded "Perhaps the hooded man was right, maybe your investigation should end here..."

"What, why would we listen to him?!" Callie questioned, shocked that Doctor Kran would suggest that "We can't give up just because some hooded jerk told us to!" she stood up and defiantly stared down Kran, who didn't reply and simply pushed past them, going towards the base "Hey! Do you know something?!"

Kran was silent for a moment once he reached the door, not opening it and just standing still "...Empusa Heart...they are a guild of ruthless assassin's who will take any job, no matter how evil it may be, I've heard stories of a squad of mages wiping out a small town simply because their employer thought the land belonged to him..." he said, not facing them "...But for now, we should focus on helping these people, should we not?" he turned around and smiled, gesturing for them to follow.

Seth, Rai, and Callie looked at each other and silently agreed, following Doctor Kran into the building, joining Doctor Kran and Caspian into a back room, where they saw a bevy of scientific equipment was scattered across the table "Vayne's group must have used this to create the poison, perhaps we can use it to create a cure? Poetic justice, I'd say" Caspian joked, taking the recipe for the cure out of his pocket and smoothing it on the table "We'll start right away, those people are counting on us –we can't stop here!"

The next couple of hours went by quickly as they set about working on the cure, with Doctor Kran and Caspian handling the more technical stuff, while the others did things like grabbing various things or getting more ingredients when it seemed like they were going to run out, soon enough, the first brew was done.

"Okay! This should be it!" Caspian triumphantly announced, holding up a bottle filled with a dark green liquid "So, along with curing this poison, it should also give increased stamina and relieve any fatigue the drinker may be feeling, any volunteers to test it?"

Rai and Callie both stepped out of the way as Caspian turned to them, leaving Seth standing there, surprised and feeling a little betrayed "Uh...I-I guess I'll do it..." he conceded, taking the bottle from Caspian "But if I die...leave my room alone" he quipped, trying to lighten his mood as he stared at the bottle.

He finally took a swig from the bottle and roughly swallowed the liquid, nothing seemed to happen at first, neither bad nor good… "Hmm, seems this one was a failure..." Caspian sighed Seth handed him the bottle "Perhaps we mixed something wrong?"

"Um...Cas?" Callie called, getting his attention, Caspian turned around and saw that all of the color had drained from Seth's face, only to quickly be replaced by a sickly green, before anyone could say anything, Seth ran out of the building as quickly as he could "Don't think that's the result you wanted..."

"Let's begin experiment 2" Caspian said, looking at the door "And we should adjust the mixtures this time..." Doctor Kran nodded and they went about making the next batch of cures "Rai, if you could, can you add some heat to this with your electricity?" Rai agreed and created a small arc between his thumb and index finger, holding it close to the bottle.

A few moments later, the next batch of medicine was finished and this time it was Rai's turn to test it "Sigh...very well..." Rai chugged the medicine down and set the bottle on the table "I don't feel anything right now, perhaps we should wai-" he was soon cut off as the color faded from his face as well, before passing out and falling to the floor, unconscious.

"Did they tamper with the recipe?!" Caspian theorized, carefully reading through the note once again "There must be something we're doing wrong..." he pushed it to the back of his mind and they began making the next batch.

As they went about working, Callie cautiously looked around, in case she needed to quick escape " _I could go through that window, probably won't cause that much damage..._ "

She was soon pulled out of her thoughts though when she heard a loud pop and smoke started to fill the room "There! That should be perfect!" Caspian cheered, he turned to Callie and presented the bottle to her "This should be the one, I'm sure of it!" Callie apprehensively took the bottle from him and looked at the contents, now a lighter shade of green than it normally was.

"...Fine, I'll do it..." She resigned herself to her fate as she took the bottle, she quickly downed the liquid in the bottle and waited for something to go wrong...but it never did "This one might have failed too..." she said, but suddenly, she felt all of her fatigue melting away "Wow! I feel great!" she said, flexing her arms "I think you guys found the right formula!"

"That's wonderful news!" Doctor Kran cheered, watching Callie as she stretched out some more "Now we need to make more, we may need to make one last supply run, can you handle that for us, Ms. Nix?" he asked, handing her a list of reagents.

"Of course I can!" Callie agreed, taking the list and heading towards the door, she opened it and saw that Seth was coming back from wherever he was, still slightly green, she also looked back inside and saw that Rai was waking up as well "Come on, guys, they found the cure, we're so close!"

"Yay…." Seth and Rai weakly cheered, trudging after Callie as she ran off into the woods, leaving them in her dust…

Meanwhile, at an unknown location, the hooded figure approached someone shrouded in shadow, he then took a knee and bowed his head "My lord, I have completed my mission..." he said "They took the bait as you predicted."

"Good, that should give them the lead the need" The voice replied, laughing slightly as they spoke "I have a new mission, keep a close eye on them, okay?" He said, approaching the hooded figure, stepping into the light and revealing…Corvino Spettro "Kaede has moved on to Kobold Fang, so I need someone else to keep an eye of Hippogriff, think you can do that?"

"Of course, My lord, I shall monitor them and report back with any findings" The hooded man responded, saluting Corvino "I shall take my return and continue my observations, with your leave, of course."

"Go ahead" Corvino said, waving off his request as the man walked away, leaving Corvino alone "Approaching them directly may have been easier...but perhaps giving them bread crumbs will make them more amiable to my help?" he approached the back of the room, where a ruined throne sat, Corvino sat on the throne and leaned back "...They have more valor than I thought, maybe I should have given them more credit?" He thought out loud, sitting in the calming darkness…

THE END!

A.N: Sorry for the shorter chapter, but I wanted to make a follow-up with Seth's group and set up another plot point, I hope you enjoy, and also, to any LGBT readers out there, Happy Pride Month!


	24. Chapter 21

Fairy Tail: Bonds of Silver- Chapter 21: The Ever-Changing Tides!

(Before we begin, I have to apologize, I went away for way longer than I intended, simply put, I wanted to write something other than fanfiction, so I set out to create a story of my own from the ground up...which was a bigger undertaking than I thought it would be...but now that the big planning is out of the way, I should be able to get back into writing Bonds of Silver! So without further ado, let's get going!)

Back in Turquesa, the town seemed to be in a joyous uproar, prepping for some sort of festival, in Silver Hippogriff's main base, every member was running around doing things such as hanging decorations or cleaning up around the base, with Abel running the whole thing, carrying a box of drinks as she gave orders "Alright guys, we have to make sure everything is perfect before the festival!" she shouted over the clamor in the hall "This place should be spotless before the others get back!"

She placed the box down on the bar top and scanned the crowd in front of her, and someone that specifically caught her eye was Master Emilia, she had a pensive look on her face as she broke away from the crowd and made her way back to her office " _Is the master okay?_ " she looked back at the bar as Ariadne and Rin started restocking the drinks "Sorry, you two, I've got to check something out, can you handle things here?"

"Guess you saw her too, huh?" Rin asked, not facing Abel "Master Emilia has been acting kinda weird, we'll hold down the fort, go see what's up" Abel nodded and pushed her way through the crowd, dodging around other Guild members as they went about their tasks.

She finally reached the second floor and found Master Emilia standing outside the door to her office, as if she was contemplating going inside "Master Emilia! Is everything okay?" Abel called out, causing Emilia to jump slightly, but when she saw that it was Abel, she calmed down and smiled.

"Ah, Abel, I didn't hear you come up" She replied, keeping her warm smile "I thought you would be helping the other prepare for the Festival of Lost Stars, was there something you needed from me?" before Abel replied, she scanned Emilia's face, noticing that she seemed tired, even with some bags forming under her eyes.

"Master, is everything alright?" Abel asked, approaching Emilia "You seem kind of...stressed, why not help us with the festival? It could be fun!"

"I would love to, but..." Emilia started, looking at the door to her office "...But there's some things I need to take care of before I can join, so why don't you continue without me? I'll be down short-" She was suddenly cut off as something caught her attention "...I feel a source of Magic Power in here, someone's inside..." she placed her hand on the door and focused "I can't tell who it is..."

"Someone's in there? Are you sure?" Abel asked, approaching the office door "Should I go get some backup?" she asked, waiting for Emilia to respond, instead Emilia held up her free hand, signaling for her to wait.

She was silent for a moment, getting a feel for what was on the other side of the door "It seems to only one target, perhaps it might not even be a threat..." She took her hand off the door and placed it on the knob "But that doesn't mean we should drop our guard, be ready for anything."

Abel nodded without saying anything, mentally preparing herself for whatever could have been waiting for them behind the door, Emilia slowly turned the doorknob, pushing the door open, once they were inside the office they were greeted by...a single cockroach "I-It's just a bug?" Abel asked, letting out an annoyed sigh before finally laughing at how tense she was a minute earlier "That's actually kinda funny, we thought someone broke in, but it was just a...bug..." she glanced over at Emilia and noticed she had a serious look on her face.

" _ **Baiser Brulant**_ " (Searing Kiss) Emilia said, casting a spell, she brought a hand to her lips and kissed it, which she then blew towards the bug, the air suddenly ignited and the small fireball touched the cockroach, causing it to burst into flames, it soon exploded into a small cloud of smoke "That simple bug was the source of the magic, I believe it was placed here for a reason..."

"What? Why would they put a bug in your office?" Abel asked, watching the smoke fade away "Should I get some people to check for intruders?" She watched as Emilia searched around her office, making sure that everything was in place and that there were no openings in the walls.

After a while, she let out a sigh and turned back to Abel "It would be for the best, but make sure that the people of Turquesa don't find out, if there is someone here, causing an uproar won't help anyone" Abel agreed and she left Emilia's office while the Master looked around, doing one final check "...The ledger...the ledger is gone!"

...Outside, on the roof of a building close to the headquarters, Bellerophon sat there, looking at something on a holographic screen, he was soon approached by a smoke-like figure "You took too long, your cover was almost blown!" he chastised as the smoke began to reform, turning into Jackson Gallows.

"Hey, I don't want to hear anything from you, I did all the work while you just sat there!" Jackson replied, approaching Bellerophon and throwing a small knapsack at him " _And_ you were the one who kept complaining that we should be going after Silver Hippogriff!" he noticed that Bellerophon wasn't paying attention to him, instead his attention was glued to the screen "What the hell are you even looking at, anyway?!"

Jackson approached the screen and pulled it towards himself and was shocked to see that it was a view inside what seemed to be a dressing room, watching as three women were trying on festive dresses, Bellerophon shoved Jackson away, intensely glaring at him "My business is my own, brat" He hissed, dismissing the screen "Now, did you retrieve the ledger?"

"Yeah, check that bag" Jackson tersely answered, shoving his hands in his pockets as Bellerophon opened the knapsack and pulled out the book "All the info should still be in there, don't know if they made copies or anything, I had to leave before I could do a full sweep..."

"I see..." Bellerophon answered simply, flipping through the pages "It seems they left it mostly intact, the names are still here, all the weapons are still listed..." he then stopped on one last page and a wide grin cracked across his face "Ah...and the most important page..." Jackson's curiosity was piqued, so he looked over Bellerophon's shoulder and was confused when he saw that the page was blank.

"What's so important about a blank piece of paper?" He asked, crossing his arms, Bellerophon gave a derisive snort as he pulled out a strange pen from his pocket, he activated it began to glow a dull purple color "Whoa, that's not a normal light pen, is it?"

"Of course not, fool, that would do us no good here!" He scoffed, starting to sketch something on the page "This, is an Obfuscation Pen, it hides whatever is drawn on the page and can reverse this spell at will" he soon finished his sketch and showed the page to Jackson, it now contained a detailed diagram of what seemed to be a circle of runes.

Jackson studied the page, but he had no idea what he was being shown "What is it? Some sort of spell?" he snatched the book from Bellerophon's grasp and began studying it "Wait...this isn't a normal spell...this is a summoning circle, isn't it?"

"Precisely!" Bellerophon answered, grabbing the book from Jackson "But it isn't just any summoning circle, with this, we shall resurrect a being that shall bring about our retribution!" his voice began to rise as he spoke, causing Jackson to throw his hands over Bellerophon's mouth.

"Keep it down! You'll ruin everything!" Jackson whispered, taking his hands off "What do you mean _retribution_?" Bellerophon muttered some curses under his breath, before smoothing out his clothes and clearing his throat, looking back at the page.

"This spell shall summon a being that will give us the ability to take revenge on any who have wronged us in the past, is that not something you would want, Gallows?" Bellerophon questioned, pontificating once again "The ability to right any wrong and wipe your slate clean?"

"Wipe the slate clean, huh?" Jackson thought, seemingly in thought for a moment, before he shook the thoughts from his head and looked back at Bellerophon with a smile on his face "I wouldn't know the feeling, honestly, everything I've done in my life has been my choice."

This statement seemed to offend Bellerophon, as he fell silent for a moment "Well, for those of us that didn't have the benefit of choice, a chance to start again would be worth more than all the artifacts that the Merchants Guild own!" he looked at the magic circle on the paper and a wicked grin began to spread on his face "And...revenge would be more than welcome..."

"You two! Get down from there!" A new voice yelled, the two of them looked down to the street level and saw a small patrol of guards looking up at them "What are you doing up there!?"

Bellerophon shoved the book back into the knapsack and slung it over his back "Well, Mr. Gallows, it seems it's time for us to make an exit! Please see to it that those fools down there don't follow us" he didn't wait for Jackson to answer before he making his escape, sliding down the roof and jumping to the next one.

"Of course, make me do the dirty work _and_ make me shake the pursuers..." Jackson sighed, channeling his magic and creating several fireballs, about the size of a fist "Go get 'em! _**Embers!**_ " he shouted, sending the embers flying towards the guards, causing them to scramble as they exploded against the ground.

In a nearby alleyway, a hooded figure watched the chaos going on "No! I couldn't stop them in time...I have to find them before this gets out of hand..." They thought out loud, turning around and running down the alley…

Back at the Silver Hippogriff base, Abel had returned to the main hall, seeing that everyone had finished preparing for the festival, decorating the ceiling to resemble a night's sky "So, What do you think?" Rin asked, wiping his brow as Abel admired the decorations "And what about Master Emilia? Is she doing okay?"

"...She seems to have a lot on her mind, I think all of this chaos with Dark Guilds has been weighing on her, you know?" Abel replied as she and Rin walked over to the bar and sat down "And I think it may also have something to do with Dawn being involved with these missions as well."

"Heh, she's softer than she lets on, I guess" Rin joked, leaning on the bar, before they could continue their conversation, the front doors flew open and a single guardsman was standing there "What's going on? Are you okay?" Rin asked as he and Abel rushed over to the man.

"Please! Silver Hippogriff, you have to help!" The guard pleaded, catching his breath "We found two men we suspect to be members of a Dark Guild, we tried to pursue them, but we lost them in the crowds" he explained, standing up straight "If they get away, they might return with larger numbers."

"Members of a Dark Guild? Here?" Abel asked, surprised, she then turned to the rest of the guild and caught their attention "Everyone! there's been a sighting of Dark Mages here in town, we need to do a sweep before they get away, any volunteers?" most of the guild volunteered, but Abel set up a small group consisting of her, Rin, Kagome, and Ariadne.

"Do you think it's the same guild that attacked in Espinela?" Kagome asked, looking at Rin, a serious look in both of their eyes "They may be looking for payback."

"We can theorize all we want, it won't do us any good if they get away" Ariadne interjected, making sure her keys were secure "But we should be on the lookout for any familiar faces" the two of them nodded and Ariadne turned to Abel "Kagome and I will look at the festival grounds, there will be plenty of people there to hide amongst."

"Alright, Rin and I will check out the market" Abel said as the group left the base, Ariadne and Kagome soon broke away from Rin and Abel, heading off towards the fairgrounds, carefully weaving through the crowd, as they were about to reach the grounds, though, a pair of hands shot out from the alleyway and grabbed the two of them by the shoulders.

Kagome yelped at the touch, but the hands soon retracted, gesturing for them to follow, though both girls were apprehensive to follow "Should we go after them? They could be with the Dark Guild" Kagome asked, watching the hands retract into the shadows.

"...Perhaps we should, I have a feeling they aren't a threat..." Ariadne replied, placing one hand on her keys "Besides, it won't be like we won't have backup" the two of them looked at the crowd one last time, making sure there weren't any suspicious people walking around, before following the figure into the alley.

"Quickly, this way!" a voice called to them, once their eyes adjusted to the darkness of the alley, they noticed a hooded figure waiting for them near a dead-end "Please, I mean you no harm, I need to speak with you."

Ariadne and Kagome shared another apprehensive look before approaching the figure "Who are you? Why seek us out like this?" The figure was silent for a moment, seemingly unsure if they should continue "Are you with these Dark Mages?"

"...Yes, but I'm not here to fight, I want to help" The figure said, their voice shaking with uncertainty "But...my information comes with a price."

"Of course it does, name your price, and we'll see if we can fulfill it" Ariadne replied, keeping a business-like tone, the figure grabbed their hood, but neither girl was prepared for who was under it…

It was Nerissa, one of the mages that had taken part in the kidnappings of Espinela "My price is...allowing me to join your guild..."

THE END!

A.N: Of course, when I try to get back into posting, the weather screws with my internet...anyway! Since the side story with Seth's group has pretty much ended, I thought I'd set up a new one involving the members that currently _aren't_ on mission, though I will be getting back into Dawn's story with the next chapter! Hope you enjoy!


	25. Chapter 22

Fairy Tail: Bonds of Silver- Chapter 22: The Determination of a Fool!

(Hey, Real quick, just wanted to apologize for missing the Monday uploads for a while now, I've been trying to keep a consistent schedule, and it tends to slip my mind, but going forth, I'm going to make an effort to be better with uploads, anyway, let's get going!)

Back on the road to Jaspe, an uneasy air still hung heavy over Dawn's group, a combination of the nervousness this mission previously had given them, compounded with the new information they had learned " _How can we stop something like this?_ " Dawn thought, thinking back to the large treads that they had found on the road " _A vehicle of that size will take considerable power to incapacitate, perhaps we can catch them off guard before they can escape?_ "

She was soon pulled out of her thoughts when she realized that Julian had been trying to get her attention "Still worried about the mission, huh?" He asked, leaning forward in his seat, when Dawn silently nodded, Julian simply laughed "Well, I wouldn't overthink it, we just gotta get in there and bust heads before they can escape, right?"

"I don't think it will be that easy" Dawn replied, trying to remain serious, but finding it hard when confronted with Julian's laid-back personality "We'll have to be cautious, there's no telling what sort of underhanded tactics these Dark Mages will use, they may even consider using hostages" Julian leaned back in his seat, considering Dawn's words as he crossed his arms.

"Julian's aware of how serious this situation is" Stella's kindly voice spoke up, joining in their conversation "He just has his own way of showing it, I suppose" she looked over at Julian and saw that he was now looking at the window, trying to occupy his time as their journey continued "But I agree…" She said, her face turning more somber and serious "This will be a difficult mission, there's a lot that can go wrong if we make a simple mistake..."

Dawn mentally chided herself, she didn't mean to bring down the mood like this "Though...Julian may have a point, sitting here worrying about this mission won't get us anywhere" she tried to think of something to lighten the mood once again "In fact, he kind of reminds me of another member of our guild, he likes to play things by ear as well."

"Really? What are the other members of Silver Hippogriff like? If you don't mind me asking?" Stella inquired, Dawn smiled and turned towards a small opening in the carriage, looking out of it to see that Esmond still had his eyes focused on the road ahead of them.

"They're all...interesting" She simply answered, a small smile spreading on her face "But, they're pretty much family... _the only one I've known..._ " She added to herself, telling a story about the day she was ready to take her first mission…

It was a calm day Turquesa, the sun was shining brightly over the town and not a cloud was in the sky, Dawn was inside the Guild Hall, staring up at the job request board " _There's so many jobs...which one should I take?_ " she asked herself, when suddenly, she felt another presence beside her, she looked over and saw a young boy about her age with white hair, looking at the board and admiring the jobs.

"This is awesome! There's so many jobs to take!" He cheered, straining to reach some of the higher posters "One of these'll be perfect for my first job!" he kept jumping up, trying to grab one of the pages as his fingers desperately brushed against the paper "Got one!" he shouted, finally grabbing a listing.

He pulled the paper off of the board and brought it to eye level " _Important!_ _Missing Family Heirloom_ _, need returned immediately!_ " the two of them read off of the paper "This should be easy, I can get this done in one day!"

"One day? Are you sure about that?" Dawn asked, she had seen him around the Guild Hall for a while now, she didn't know much about him, though she at least knew his name: Seth Eishenhaupt "It sounds like it might take a while, do you really think you can do it in one day?"

"Of course!" Seth replied, smiling broadly and rolling up the paper and putting it in his pocket "If I keep my spirits up, I can definitely do it!" he puffed out his chest and pointed his thumb towards himself "Besides, a mission like this is child's play to a great mage, so there's no way I could be intimidated by something like this!"

Dawn wasn't sure she believed him, but something about his determination seemed to sway her somewhat, he took the paper and left to prepare for the mission, though much to his chagrin, the mission took him nearly a week to complete…

Back in the present, Dawn was sharing this story with everyone in the carriage, smiling and laughing as she recounted "...Even though he was wrong, he came back with his head held high, he didn't let it get him down that he made a miscalculation, sure, it wasn't a mistake that threatened his life, but he took it in stride."

"I can see what you mean about him being similar to Julian!" Stella commented, covering her mouth as she laughed "Do you have any other stories about your guild?" Dawn nodded and was about to share some more stories, but before she could, something grabbed onto the carriage and stopped them in their tracks, the stop was so sudden that they heard Esmond being thrown from the front of the carriage.

"What was that?!" Sorain questioned, standing from his seat and exiting the carriage, once he was out there, he saw that several straps of what seemed to be cloth had wrapped around the wheels of the carriage, he followed the cloth and saw that they were coming from a rapidly approaching vehicle "I think we're about to have some company..."

The rest of the mages exited the vehicle and watched as the other car approached them, it parked a few feet away from them, and they noted that it was the expensive model covered in Lacrima that the owner of the vehicle shop had tried to sell to them "You all, you are meddling with things you do not understand, turn back now and I can guarantee you will be unharmed" the driver of the carriage called to them, he was a tall man covered from head to toe in clothing, his features were hidden by multiple scarves "But if you continue down this road, you will be obliterated..." He then raised his hand and the cloths began unwrapping from the carriage and returning to him "This is the only warning you shall receive."

The Alliance mages stood still waiting to see what would happen next "...I see, if that's how it's going to be, I shall act as a distraction, you all should take this opportunity to escape" Ferrus offered, stepping forward, but before he could, someone placed their arm in front of him and stopped him from moving.

"Wait a minute, metal-head, I'll take this guy" Julian said, stepping in front of Ferrus "I've been getting kinda stir-crazy just sitting there, think it's time I stretch my legs, I'll catch up with you guys when I take this guy out, what do you say?"

"Julian, we need you for the plan, with all of us here, we can fight this guy with no trouble" Esmond said, shaking off his injuries "Besides, we can't just leave you here to fight this guy, we have no idea what else he can do" he tried to convince Julian to let them fight alongside him, but Julian wouldn't allow it.

"The more time we spend debating this, the more time we're giving those jerks in Jaspe to escape" Julian pointed out, walking away from his group "So, if one of us stays behind and holds him off, the others can find their base, right?"

"...He's right, we should get going" Esmond conceded, turning around and approaching their carriage "Sorain, think you can get us the rest of the way there? I'm gonna have to take it easy for a bit" everyone else was stunned for a bit, surprised that Esmond agreed to leave.

"Julian, are you sure you want to do this?" Stella asked, approaching her guild mate and placing a hand on his shoulder, he turned to face her and simply smiled, nodding "...Alright, if you think this is for the best, I won't stand in your way, but come back safe, alright?"

"Don't worry, this guy's gonna be a cake walk!" Julian replied, watching as the others got back into the carriage and started to drive off, before he could turn back to his opponent, Julian felt a rush of air blast past him as several cloths flew towards the escaping vehicle "I'm not gonna let you stop them!" Julian yelled, grabbing the cloth and pulling the man towards himself.

"Very well, then I'll have to dispose of you first!" Sarto shouted back, using his cloth magic to create a spinning drill of cloth around one of his arms, punching towards Julian, but before the hit connected, Sarto felt his body stop –as if he was frozen to his core "W-What...have you done?"

"A little trick I picked up a while ago: _**Frost Dragon's Glare**_ " Julian explained as Sarto dropped to the ground "It won't last long, but it should give the others enough time to get away" as he talked to Sarto, the temperature in the air began to drop as sheets of ice began to form on Julian's body "And it should give me enough time to take you down."

Julian brought up his hand as ice began to form around his fist, he then threw a punch towards Sarto, but he was pulled away by a scrap of cloth, finally recovering from the effects of Julian's glare " _ **Rondo Di Tessuto!**_ " (Fabric Rondo) Sarto sent three spikes of cloth deep into the ground, which then erupted from the ground around Julian and began snapping at him as if they were snakes.

"You think I'm gonna be taken down by clothes?" Julian taunted, dodging around the cloth, though they were able to get in several hits, starting to chip away at his ice armor, Julian took a deep breath and unleashed a torrent of cold air and ice shards towards Sarto " _ **Frost Dragon's Roar!**_ " the torrent ripped through the air and dug out a trench in the earth, barreling towards Sarto, who seemed calm and aloof, despite the danger.

" _ **Muro Tessile**_ " he calmly cast, bringing three more large strips of cloth up to defend him "You are a fool if you believe you can stop me, a power as fluid as mine can find its way through any defense you can muster, can block any attack that you fire" several straps of cloth began moving around his body, as if they were extra limbs " _And_ , I can attack you from every angle" he then threw open his cloak, revealing several large needle-like knives strapped to his body, the cloths wrapped themselves around the needles and wielded them " _ **Tecnica a otto Pale: Zanne Cucito!**_ " (Eight Blade Technique: Sewing Fangs)

"Wield as many blades as you want, I'll repel them all!" Julian taunted, repairing the cracks in his ice armor "I'm not letting you pass!" he created two clawed gauntlets on his arms and charged towards Sarto, and the two of them engaged in a heated close-combat battle, skillfully countering each other's blows, but not making headway in either sides favor "This is getting nowhere! How about this?!" Julian yelled, clapping his hands together.

Before he could perform his move, however, Sarto bound his hands together in cloth, preventing him from moving them "It seems I cannot make any progress while you have that ridiculous armor on...perhaps I shall shatter it!" he then yanked the cloth upward, pulling Julian high into the air and spinning him around, before throwing him into the Magic Four-wheeler, causing him to land on the point of one of the Lacrima sticking out of it, shattering the armor like glass and knocking the wind out of Julian.

The young man fell to the ground, gasping for air as Sarto turned to face the direction of Jaspe "It was admirable for you to allow your friends to escape, but it was a fool's gambit, and you have failed..." he heard Julian struggling to stand behind him, sighing, he turned around and noticed he had gotten to his feet, angrily glaring at him "You can no longer fight, continuing will only lead to your death."

"You're right...I might not win this..." Julian answered, smirking as he nearly stumbled over himself "But I'll be damned if I let you go after my friends!" he finally straightened himself up and got into a battle stance, staring at Sarto, waiting for him to make a move.

"...Very well, if you have a death wish, I will gladly grant it" Sarto snarled, creating more cloth arms and charging towards Julian…

Meanwhile, Dawn's Group had finally reached Jaspe, it was a small town, especially when compared to the sprawling city of Topacio, the group exited the four-wheeler, with Dawn helping Esmond out of it, as he was still recovering from his injuries.

"Now, we have a limited amount of time, there's no telling if that guy back there has alerted them to our presence, we should ask around town and see if anyone has any leads for us" Dawn planned as she helped Esmond steady himself "Watch out for anyone who may seem suspicious, they could be connected to the Dark Guild.

The other members nodded and they all fanned out, exploring separate areas of the town and asking anyone they came across, whether they be shopkeepers or street urchins, and they all received the same answers: Everyone claimed that they had no idea what they were talking about, they had seen no dark mages around the town, and they had not seen a train-like vehicle moving across the land.

When their search had turned up empty, they reconvened at a meeting spot in the middle of town, exchanging disappointed glances "Everyone seems to be afraid of talking about the Dark Guild..." Sorain theorized, noticing that people seemed to be avoiding them "It seems they have quite the hold over this town."

"There has to be someone willing to talk to us...maybe we just need to retrace our steps and we'll find someone we missed?" Stella offered, looking around at the townspeople "Someone must want these kidnappers gone..."

Before anyone could say anything to her, a young boy ran up to them and knocked Dawn over, before getting up and rushing past them and disappearing around a street corner "Well then, are human children always this rude?" Ferrus asked, not making an attempt to grab the kid

"Not always..." Dawn answered, standing up and shaking off her disorientation, she placed her hand on her hip and realized something was missing "My sword! He took my sword!" she whipped around to where the kids disappeared and saw that the boy was peeking around the corner, he recoiled when he noticed Dawn was looking at him and started to run away "I'll go after him, you guys keep asking around, alright?"

The others nodded and Dawn separated from the ground and chased after the kid, dodging through the crowds of people and trying to keep an eye on the kid as he did his best to shake her, soon enough, she had followed him to an abandoned building, he threw open the door and headed inside, Dawn followed closely behind and made sure it wasn't a trap.

When she was certain it was safe, she approached the door and pressed her ear against it, listening for anything inside "...should be here soon…maybe she can..." her curiosity was piqued as she slowly opened the door, she was a bit surprised that inside the building was… a group of children.

"A-Are you here to help us?" One of the kids asked, a small girl with dark brown hair "Are you gonna save our parents?" Dawn was taken aback by this revelation, unable to respond right away…

THE END!

A.N: You know...it's kinda hard to concentrate on writing when your house it literally trying to cook you alive...summer heat sucks, anyway, enjoy!


	26. Chapter 23

Fairy Tail: Bonds of Silver- Chapter 23: The Differences of Justice!

(Real quick, I know I said that Seth's plot was wrapped up for now, but I got inspired by re-watching the main series and coming to a certain scene (I think it'll be pretty obvious which scene I'm talking about) and I thought it would be a good scene to use in this story, anyway, enjoy!)

Back with Seth's group, they were going down the road in their Four-Wheeler, even with Callie driving, they moved slowly down the road and everyone had fallen silent inside the carriage; they all had serious looks on their faces, after a while, Seth finally broke the silence "We should have done something...how could we let them take him?"

His question fell on deaf ears initially, none of his companions answered him, he then stood up and looked from Rai to Caspian "He helped so many people! How could they treat him like that?!" this time, Rai finally answered after letting out a short sigh.

"What did you want us to do? Go against the Families for one man?" He questioned, holding up his index finger "Besides...even if we wanted to, Dr. Kran knew the consequences for helping a Dark Guild like that..." he glanced over at the seat next to Caspian where a small bag sat, a final parting gift from Dr. Kran, who seemed to be nowhere in sight…

(Flashback)

The group had made their way back to town with the cure in hand, heading directly to the church "Everybody! We've got some great news!" Caspian yelled, taking a flask off of his belt and holding it up for the people to see "We've found the cure! We should have enough for everyone!"

The reaction was less enthusiastic then what they were suspecting, with the villagers slowly sitting up and looking at Caspian: some with disbelief in their eyes, others with fearful hope welling up "Is...is it really the cure?" the villagers slowly got to their feet and shuffled over to Caspian, weakly shoving others out of the way, making sure they were the first in line for the cure.

"Now, now, everyone, there's no need for shoving, we have quite enough to go around" Dr. Kran called out, trying to placate the masses "Please, from a line and we will treat you all!" after a little more arguing and shoving, the villagers finally fell in line and waited to be given their dose of the cure.

One by one, the villagers were given the potions, and were beginning to show signs of improvement, and once the last of the villagers had been cured, the church was filled with cheering and merriment, the villagers who were once sick and dying were now leaping and dancing around, the mages watched on in quiet pride...until it was broken by Callie throwing her arms around Caspian and Dr. Kran, pulling them both close to her "You two eggheads did it!" she cheered, unable to hear their protests.

She finally let go as one of the villagers approached them: he was an older man that they assumed was the leader of the village, his eyes were wet as tears streamed down his face as the rest of the villagers continued to celebrate behind him "We had almost abandoned hope, there is no way for us to thank you for all that you have done, but please, allow us to try" he wiped the tears from his cheeks and spread his arms wide, smiling "We shall have a feast! You'll be our honored guests, what do you say?"

"There's no need for that, we should be getting back home anyway" Rai answered, stepping forward, though the rumbling from his stomach betrayed him "I, uh, suppose we're all hungrier than I thought, I suppose one more day here wouldn't hurt, are you guys okay with that?" he asked, turning to his companions.

"Didn't really think about it 'till now, I'm pretty hungry" Seth replied, placing a hand on his stomach "Though I'd be fine if you threw a couple of lug nuts my way!" he said, folding his arms behind his head as he smiled widely, much to the confusion of the mayor "Don't worry about it, I'll take anything else you got, too."

After recovering from his confusion, the mayor turned back to the villagers and started to wave at them, trying to capture their attention "Everyone! Everyone! I need your attention!" once they had settled down and turned towards the mayor, he cleared his throat "We have a feast to prepare! Our heroes deserve nothing less than the best, don't you agree?" the other villagers cheered in agreement and they left the church, leaving the guild members and doctor Kran behind.

"To think, not even an hour ago they were at death's door..." Dr. Kran noted, letting out a contented laugh, he then turned to the members of Silver Hippogriff and bowed deeply, showing his gratitude "I suppose I should thank you all for giving me the chance to set things right, if you had not decided to help this town, I don't believe I could face myself..."

"Don't worry about it, Doc!" Seth cheered, not dropping his grin "You didn't really have a choice in the matter, I doubt those jerks would have let you say no to their deal" he then walked towards the door, grabbing the doorknob before stopping "And hey, if they ever try to come after you, just know you got Silver Hippogriff backing you up!"

"Hey! Don't make promises for everyone else!" Callie replied, surprised by what Seth had declared "Though you've got a point, we can help you out if you need it" she patted Dr. Kran on the shoulder and walked towards the door as well, waiting for the others to follow.

"Well, that's quite a generous offer!" Kran answered, slightly taken aback by the sudden forgiveness from the mages " _Perhaps I'll set up a new clinic in Turquesa? It sounds like quite a friendly place...maybe it will be the best chance for a fresh start..._ "

The mages finally left the church and went around the village, trying to see if they could help in anyway with the preparations for the celebration, despite the constant protests of the villagers, they finally conceded and allowed the mages to help, once everything had been set up and all the food had been prepped, they sat at several long tables in the middle of the village.

Dr. Kran and the Hippogriff mages were specifically sat at a large table at the head of the party, talking to random villagers that came up and asked them questions, especially Rai, who was regaling several women with a recap of the battle, subtly playing up his own involvement.

"Tch, guess he'll never change..." Callie chided, stabbing at the food on her plate with a fork "Though I can't blame him, we've more than earned a little downtime" she looked around at her other companions, she saw Seth was devouring a large plate of food, seemingly decorated with building materials such as nails, and Caspian was trading notes with Dr. Kran "Well, if you can't beat 'em..." she said, grabbing a mug of filled with some sort of wine and drinking deeply from it "...Cut loose with 'em!"

The rollicking party carried on through the afternoon as the sun began to dip below the horizon, it slowly began to peter out and calm down as the party-goers began to lose their energy, wild dancing and merry singing was soon replaced with pleasant conversation and relaxing melodies; the party seemed to have reached it's end when they heard the marching of boots and wheels rolling on stone.

Everyone turned to face the new arrivals and noticed that they were knights bearing the Sigil of one of the Merchant Families: A black raven flying with it's wings spread as it took to the sky, these were members of the Orden Brillante (Brilliant Order), an order of knights dedicated to serving and protecting the Merchant Families and the people of Joya.

One of the knights, wearing the standard golden surcoat over his plate armor and a sugar loaf style great helm stepped in front of the other knights as they stopped "Would the Mages of Silver Hippogriff and Doctor Aramis Kran step forward!" he bellowed, scanning the stunned crowd in front of him, Rai silently looked to the others, who nodded in affirmation as they stood, walking towards the knights.

"What do you want?" Rai asked, keeping a level tone as he locked eyes with the knight in front of him "I'm guessing you're here to apprehend the criminals?" he questioned, gesturing towards a small building that was used as an improvised jail.

"We shall deal with them in time..." The knight answered in his booming voice "There is a more pressing matter at hands, it has come to our attention that Doctor Kran has committed an act of treason against the country of Joya, he aided these criminals in infecting this towns populace, and then fooled them into thinking that he was their savior" he then began approaching Dr. Kran, taking a pair of handcuffs off of his belt, but before he could reach him, something flew forward and pierced the ground in front of him, he looked down and saw a carpenter nail sticking out of the dirt "What is the meaning of this?!"

He traced the path of the nail and saw Seth glaring at him, with several nails still sticking out of his mouth "You're not taking Kran anywhere, he's done his damnedest to make things right, no way you're sticking him in some jail..."

The knight stared at the young mage, astonished "You would obstruct justice for this man, even with the crimes he has committed?" seeing the unwavering defiance in the young man's eyes was the only answer he needed, he drew his sword and prepared to fight "Very well then, if you will not give him up willingly, he will be taken by force."

"Fine by me, I'll take all of you on.." Seth said, turning his body into metal, he took a deep breath and aimed at the knights " _ **Iron God's Bell-**_ " before he could finish his incantation, a fist slammed into his stomach, and to the surprise of everyone in attendance: It was Rai who had punched him, incapacitating Seth with a lightning-charged punch, dropping Seth to his knees.

Rai turned back to the knights and dropped to one knee, bowing to the knights "You'll have to forgive him, Sir, he let's his emotions get the better of him more often than not" the captain was confused for a moment, but nodded and sheathed his sword, easing out of his battle stance.

"Understood, we have recruits with a similar fire" The captain replied, grabbing his handcuffs again and approaching the group once again "I trust no one else has any objections?" Callie opened her mouth to say something, but she was stopped once Doctor Kran held up his hand.

"I suppose my luck would run out eventually" Doctor Kran said, a bittersweet smile on his face "I've allowed you all to shoulder my burdens for long enough, I suppose it's my turn to ease your burdens..." he then turned to the captain "Will you allow them to go free if I go with you?"

"Yes, you are the only one we're seeking, alongside the other criminals" The captain explained, taking the cuffs off of his belt once again "We have no qualms with the members of Silver Hippogriff" Dr. Kran solemnly nodded and approached the captain, letting him place the handcuffs on his wrists.

"W-Wait...you can't...do this..." Seth wheezed, shakily standing to his feet "Doctor Kran...helped these people..." the captain turned from the mages and started leading Doctor Kran towards the carriage, but before he reached them, he called out one last time.

"Remember, young mage, men such as you and I have very different definitions of 'Justice'" he said, his voice resonating in Seth's mind, freezing him where he stood "It is not morals who decides which is right, it is simply the one with more power who decides which is right, Men! Grab the other criminals!" he ordered, pointing towards the jail-building, several knights saluted and marched towards the building, opening the door and apprehending both Vayne and Kojuro.

The party had come to a complete halt as they watched the knights leave the town, almost as quickly as they had appeared…

(Back in the Present)

The mages were still on the road back to Turquesa, tensions had calmed, but were still high "We didn't even try and fight them!" Seth complained, crossing his arms and gritting his teeth, before pointing at Rai "And you! Why the hell did you slug me like that?!"

"Don't you get it?" Rai questioned, trying to remain calm "If you had flown off the handle like you were about to, we would have just been arrested like Dr. Kran!" Seth then stood from his seat, and so did Rai, the two of them got in each other's face and before either could say a word, Caspian pushed himself in between the two of them and managed to shove them back into their seats, despite the strain it put on his weaker frame.

"Both of you, stop!" He shouted in a moment of uncharacteristic anger "Butting heads over this isn't going to help anything!" he sat back in his seat as well, looking at the bag that Dr. Kran had given him "Doctor Kran gave himself up so we wouldn't get in trouble, we shouldn't squander it by arguing..."

Seth let out an aggravated sigh and ruffled his hair "I know that, but..." he then looked at Rai and sighed once again "...Sorry, Rai, guess I just wasn't thinking."

"Don't worry about it, I'd be more worried if you _had_ started thinking!" Rai joked, trying to lighten the mood "And I think I can find it in me to forgive you if you can forgive me for gut-punching you like that" he reached his hand out to Seth, waiting for him to shake it, Seth silently reached out and shook his hand, silently apologizing to one another.

"Everything okay back there?" Callie called from the front of the carriage, when Rai replied that everything was okay, Callie continued "Alright, glad to here it, we're pretty close to home now and I don't want you two whining anymore when we get there!"

"Hey! I wasn't whining!" Both Seth and Rai yelled, starting to argue with Callie as they continued down the road –though Caspian smiled, knowing this was the playful arguing that he came to know and love from the guild, all bad blood seemingly forgiven for now.

Once the argument was over, Seth sat down, glad that he now had something new to focus his mind on, though one question kept plaguing the back of his mind " _That captain...his voice felt so...familiar._ " he decided to push that thought to the side as he heard Callie announce that Turquesa was in sight…

THE END!

A.N: And with that, Seth's side story is _officially_ wrapped up, and the story will now focus on Dawn's story, as well as the prep for the festival, until all of those points converge, also yep, Dr. Kran's arrest was a nod to Jellal's arrest in canon! (as well as the scene in One Piece where Zoro knocks out Sanji when they're arguing who should take Luffy's pain on Thriller Bark, which is one of my favorite scenes from the anime!) anyway, I hope you enjoy a more emotional chapter as opposed to an action-packed one!


	27. Chapter 24

Fairy Tail- Bonds of Silver: Chapter 24- The Forgotten!

(Funny story, I meant to actually post this on Thursday, as I didn't have time to on Wednesday (Which is what I'm aiming for from now on as the release date) but then it slipped my mind on Thursday, and then when Friday came around, I was hanging out with my brother and I said "Tomorrow I'll do it, I'm gonna spend Friday writing" and that's when he revealed to me " _Today_ is Friday"…I'm not the only one who forgets what day it is sometimes, right? Anyway, let's get going!)

Back in Jaspe, Dawn's group had decided to continue their investigation without her, making their way through the town, trying to find any sign of the Dark Mages, even without the help of townspeople "This is getting us nowhere, it's as if they haven't even set foot in the town..." Ferrus sighed, scanning the horizon.

"Haven't even set foot...Ferrus you're a genius!" Sorain shouted, shocking his companions and grabbing Ferrus by the shoulder "We've been going about this all wrong!" before Ferrus could reply, Sorain went off on his own, muttering new plans under his breath.

"What's gotten in to him?" Esmond asked, rejoining Ferrus with Stella at his side "Is he prone to doing things like this?"

"Sometimes, yes, but I think he may be on to something here, we should follow" Ferrus responded, going after Sorain "Though one of us should stay behind, so we do not leave Dawn behind, do either of you volunteer?"

Esmond was quick to reply, taking something out of his pocket as he did "I'll hang back, knowing her, she'll be eager to get back on track" he then handed something to Stella, revealing that it was a stone with a mysterious symbol carved into it "I'm a practitioner of Rune Magic, if you use this rune, we'll be able to communicate with each other, and it can't be detected like a normal comm lacrima" he then showed that he was carrying another rune with the same symbol "Stay in touch, just in case."

"Okay, and if it isn't too much trouble...could you keep an eye out for Julian as well?" Stella asked, a hint of worry in her voice "I don't believe he would lose the fight, but..." she was cut off by a small chuckle from Esmond, who silently nodded and gave her a thumbs up.

"I'll keep my eyes peeled, alright?" Esmond agreed, Stella smiled and nodded at him, joining Ferrus as the two of them went off after Sorain, leaving Esmond on his own "Sigh...okay, now where did you head off to Dawn? _The guild master probably won't be happy if I lost her..._ " he pushed that thought to the back of his mind as he went back into town, taking one last look at the others as they disappeared over the horizon.

Esmond made his way to a square in the middle of town, with a large fountain in the center "Alright, someone around here must have seen where Dawn went..." he thought aloud, looking at the people going about their days "Excuse me, you wouldn't have happened to have seen a pink-haired girl running around here would you? Probably chasing after a kid?" he asked a passing man, who simply ignored him and walked past "Thanks for the help..."

A group of ladies passed by him, chatting about something, and he managed to overhear part of their conversations "It's so sad, all those kids left without parents...what happened to them after the disappearances?"

"Nobody knows, they went missing too, some say they were taken by the same people who took their parents..." one of the other women replied, lowering her voice "...Though, some people say that the kids are still wondering around the city, trying to find a way to fight back; if that's the case, why haven't the guards rounded them up?"

" _Kids trying to fight against a Dark Guild…? Gotta find Dawn before those kids get themselves_ _hurt...or worse_ " Esmond thought, leaving the square and continuing his search for Dawn "Dawn! You out there?" he called, but to no avail "Yeah, I guess that would have been too easy, she couldn't have gotten too far."

As he walked, he caught something moving out of the corner of his eye, he looked down a secluded alleyway and saw a small figure disappear around a corner " _...This goes against all logic, but I feel like I should_ _follow them..._ " he looked around to see if anyone was watching him and let out a sigh, going down the alley once he was certain that no one was watching…

Meanwhile, Back with Dawn, she was still staring at the group of children, dumbfounded and taken aback by what she was seeing "What are you all doing here? What happened to your parents?" She asked, trying to piece together what was going on, as she thought, the boy who took her sword stepped forward.

"You came here to help us right?" He questioned, basically interrogating Dawn "Or are you part of the dark guild? Tell us!" he yelled, clumsily drawing Dawn's sword and pointing it at her, though it was shaking in his hands.

Dawn simply held up her hands, making sure that the children understood she wasn't a threat, she took a few steps forward, but the young boy continued to point the sword at her, steadying his grip and trying to ward her off, but she was undeterred by the threat.

Once she was close enough, she quickly leaped towards the boy, surprising him and causing him to fall backwards, dropping the sword; Dawn grabbed the blade and sheathed it on her hip, before the boy could retaliate, Dawn was standing over him, holding out her hand.

"Your form could definitely use some work" She joked, helping the boy to his feet "And don't worry, my friends and I are here to help you, we've been tasked with taking down the Dark Guild that has taken residence in this town" She explained, turning towards the other children "And we'll save your parents, you have my word."

The boy was stunned by her words, unsure if he should believe her or not "If that's the case...then we're coming with you!" the fire burning in his eyes made Dawn certain that the boy was serious "These jerks have been here for _weeks_ taking people! It's time we got our revenge on them!"

"Now, now, let's not be hasty..." Dawn said, trying to calm him down "These are dangerous mages, this won't be an easy battle and they won't hold back, not even against children, it would be better if you left it to my friends and I" the boy seemed crestfallen for a moment, but he soon shook it off and looked back at Dawn, determination back in his eyes.

"Then at least let us show you where they are!" He said, gesturing towards a large map tacked to a wall at the back of the building "We've been watching them ever since they took our parents, we know where their base is now!"

Dawn approached the map and studied it, noting that the base seemed to be hidden in the outskirts of the city, covered by a copse of trees " _That's why we couldn't find any evidence in the town...they wouldn't bring their base close enough to leave it!_ " as soon as she came to that realization, the door flew open and another kid rushed in.

"We've gotta hide! I think I'm being followed by someone!" The kid warned, getting as far away from the door as possible "He's gotta be part of that Dark Guild!" the rest of the kids began to panic and moved to the back of the building, only Dawn and the boy who took her sword –who she assumed was the leader– stayed still, preparing to face whatever threat was following them…

The door slowly opened and a head peered into the building, relief washed over Dawn as she realized that it was Esmond "It's okay, he's-" but before she could finish her sentence, the leader of the kids rushed forward and kicked the door, slamming it closed and injuring Esmond, who slowly slunk to the floor.

"I'm starting to feel like I should have stayed in bed..." He groaned, pushing himself off of the floor and dusting himself off "So, this is where you've been?" he asked, seeing Dawn in the middle of the building, he then looked past her and saw all of the kids behind her –staring at him with apprehensive, but hopeful, eyes.

Dawn walked up to him and gestured to the children "These kids are victims of the Dark Guilds kidnappings, they want us to help save their parents" she then pointed to the map at the back "They've even found where the Dark Guilds base is, by the way, are the others with you?"

Esmond let out a little laugh, remembering what happened when back in the town "Sorain had some sort of epiphany and took the others somewhere, I think he figured out where the base was too, we should meet up with them before they get discovered" he then took the rune stone out of his pocket and began focusing his magic on it, causing the rune to begin to glow "Hey, guys, I've found Dawn, everything okay on your end?"

For a while, the stone remained silent, leading Dawn and Esmond to fear the worst, until finally, it lit up once again and Stella's voice responded, though she seemed to be whispering "Everything's okay here, we're following a group of hooded guys through some trees, we think they might be dark mages."

"Alright, keep an eye on them, we'll try and meet up with you" Esmond said, severing the connection on the stone, which fell silent once again "We should get going right away, the longer we linger here, the more likely they'll be caught."

Dawn nodded and turned to the children "We won't be gone long, and when we come back, your parents will be with us, you have my word" she said, holding her hand out to the leader, which he shook after a beat of silence, she then turned back to Esmond and the two of them exited the building "We'll have to hurry, that copse they showed me was to the east of town, let's go."

The two of them quickly made their way through town, making sure not to run into any of the civilians as they went "Making some big promises to those kids... _he's_ rubbing off on you isn't he?" Esmond joked, looking at Dawn with a smirk on his face.

"Maybe he is, but that isn't such a bad thing, is it?" Dawn replied, smiling, they soon reached the eastern gate of the town and prepared themselves, both mentally and physically, before setting off to meet with Sorain's group…

Sorain's team had kept a close eye on the hooded men that Stella had told Esmond about, following behind them as they went through the trees, ducking behind bushes when they believed that they were about to be spotted.

Soon enough, they had found what seemed to be a road through the trees running perpendicular to their hiding place, though they noticed that the trees lining the sides of the road were fallen –as if something had driven through them "This must be connected to the vehicle Dawn was talking about..." Sorain whispered, watching as the hooded people began to follow the road "Now I'm certain of it, those three are connected to it somehow, and they're leading us right to their base" he turned back to his companions and whispered "Keep your wits about you, there's no telling what kind of resistance we'll face once we get there." 

"We should wait for Dawn and the others to join us" Stella replied, watching the hooded figures continue down the path "We'll have a better chance of fighting them with more people" her prayers seemed to be answered when the foliage behind them began to move, thinking it was their allies.

But their hopes were quickly dashed when several more hooded figures rushed out of the bushes, quickly taking them by surprise "Did you think we hadn't realized you were following us?" one of the figures mockingly asked, using his magic to shoot a length of chain from his hand, trying to bind the mages.

Instead, Ferrus grabbed on to the chain and yanked on it, pulling the man forward and punching him when he got close enough to them "Thank you for revealing yourselves, we could use some more information on the foes we face."

"You dare mock us?!" Another of the hooded men yelled "We've got more numbers, rush 'em!" he commanded as they descended on the three mages, but were quickly blown away by a magic laser blast from Ferrus, though they were quick to recover and get back into the fray.

"It seems they won't give up easily..." Ferrus observed, drawing a sword from his hip "Human tenacity is both a blessing and a curse" he began focusing his magic into his blade, covering it in a red energy field " _ **Pulverizing Attack!**_ " he swung the sword in a wide arc, sending a magic wave towards the enemies, some of which were able to dodge, countering with their own attacks, bolts of lightning, fireballs, and large stones flew towards them.

Suddenly, three large bramble patches erupted from the ground and wrapped around the mages, defending them from the spells and firing themselves at the enemies once the attacks had dissipated, though they weren't down for long and redoubled their efforts, firing off more and more attacks, Sorain and the others tried to fight back, but they soon found themselves beginning to get overwhelmed.

"...Only one way out of this..." Sorain whispered to himself, channeling his magic "Everyone, brace yourselves!" he warned as a large magic circle appeared underneath him " _ **Yggdrasil!**_ " he cast, the circle began to glow and a large tree erupted from the ground, the three mages were caught up in the leaves and sent high into the sky as the enemies scattered, desperately trying to avoid the falling debris.

Once the tree had stopped ground, Sorain fell to his knees, panting "With this...we should have time to recuperate...and get a sense of the environment..." several branches from the tree wrapped around them and placed them on a larger branch hidden within the leaves, suddenly, beautiful flowers began to sprout from the branch, creating a small bed underneath each of the mages.

"I can't do much in the way of combat right now..." Stella explained as she lowered her hand "...But I'm quite adept at support-type spells, these flowers should help recover our energy, and even heal any wounds" She then began scanning the ground, trying to find any sign of the enemy base "There it is!" she said, pointing to the ground, Ferrus and Sorain looked to where she indicated and saw a circle cut out of the forest, and in the middle of it, there was something that looked like the head of a train.

"Dawn was right..." Ferrus said, slightly surprised, he then looked at Sorain, who still seemed to be recovering from the exertion of magic "What's our next move? Shall we wait it out? Or should we head back down to the forest floor and fight our way through?"

"We don't have to do _either_ , my friend" Sorain replied, a proud, but weak, smile spreading on his face "Just give me a moment and I'll show you what I mean..." he said, laying back in the flower bed "Casting Yggdrasil drains quite a bit of magic power..."

A few minutes earlier, Dawn and Esmond were making their way through the forest, trying to find a sign that their allies had been through there "I could have sworn I saw footprints around here..." Esmond said, looking at the ground, suddenly, the ground began rumbling "What the hell's going on?!"

"Whatever it is, I think it might have something to do with the others!" Dawn theorized, heading off towards where the rumbling sounded loudest "Come on, we should hurry" she said, jumping over a fallen tree.

"So much for subtlety..." Esmond sighed, following after Dawn, as the rumbling began to calm down…

THE END!

A.N: Things are starting to pick up! Will Dawn be able to keep her promise to the children? What's Sorain planning with Yggdrasil? And will I finally stop forgetting to upload on time? Hope you all enjoy!


	28. Guess Who's Back?

_**Update**_

Hey, I know I've been gone a long time and I just wanted to say sorry, this "sabbatical" was kind of unexpected and I didn't mean for it to last as long as it did, but while I was gone I did some thinking and I'm here to say here and now: _**I'm Back**_!

So, as I had probably stated before, one of the main reason for updates slowing down was that I was feeling a bit stifled doing just Bonds of Silver, but during my break, I tried plotting out several other stories and I think I realized something, it may not have been just the fact that I was only doing Bonds of Silver –maybe it was the genre (If you can even call it that) of anime, I think stepping outside of that might be good for me, trying something else, y'know?

And to achieve that goal, I dusted off one of my old ideas and started changing some things up, and I think it'll be fun! It'll also be my first foray into a Mature rated story, so be ready for that, this new story should be up tomorrow if everything goes to plan, I hope you'll enjoy it!

But don't worry, this doesn't mean I'm done with Bonds of Silver or anime in general, Bonds of Silver will be updated Monday, and I have some plans for future stories (MHA, One Piece, etc.)

That's really all I wanted to talk about for now, but once again, I apologize for being gone for so long, I hope you're still here, and I'm going to try my hardest to be consistent from now on.


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